We may be a small island, but we are not a small people: exploring the challenges of public engagement with island communities on energy transitions

Islands have attracted significant attention as sites of renewable energy generation, both to improve energy self-sufficiency and sustainability for island communities, and to generate commercial low-carbon energy for mainland use. Although energy democratisation is intuitively more prominent in the former rationale, both agendas raise questions of power, justice and trust in ensuring island communities have a fair say and receive fair treatment in energy decision-making, avoiding patronising engagement or processes that treating islands and their inhabitants as sacrifice zones in national energy transitions. Parallel interest in public engagement on energy planning and siting decisions has led variously to standardised consultation tool-kits for promoting ‘effective’ consultation as well as more conceptual research exploring place-sensitive and justice-based approaches to public engagement. However, limited attention has been paid to the distinctive power relations and practicalities involved in consulting with island communities on energy issues. This paper utilises evidence from a range of island case studies and the literature to examine practical and social considerations affecting community engagement on islands. In so doing, it raises a number of questions about power and justice spanning both relations between island communities and different mainland stakeholders, and within the eclectic groupings of people that make up many island communities. The paper concludes by assessing the implications of these findings for maintaining transparent, empowering and fair decision-making processes and balanced power relations during engagement with island communities on energy transitions.