BRIDGE

Objectives

Task 62 | BRIDGE brings together social scientists and practitioners to mobilise social science in support of better wind energy planning and participation across countries. The acronym BRIDGE – Building Research-informed Inclusive Dialogue for Global wind Energy – reflects this aim by emphasising research, dialogue, and practical relevance for deployment. Its main research questions are captured within five work packages:

1. Socio-enviro-technical Collaboration: how social and ecological considerations can be addressed together rather than in parallel (WP1);
2. Local Planning and Engagement: how planning and engagement processes can better respond to local realities (WP2);
3. Organisational Culture: what is needed within organisations to enable more locally responsive and legitimate project development (WP3);
4. Participation and Business Models: what forms of participation, benefit-sharing, and business models lead to better outcomes (WP4); and
5. Tools for Improved Planning [2][3][5]: what tools can improve planning, communication, and decision-making (WP5) [1][2][3][5].

Together, they examine both the conditions that support locally responsive and legitimate project development, and the factors that undermine it.

These questions matter because, in shared space, technically and financially viable wind projects still face delay, conflict, or cancellation when planning processes are perceived as unresponsive, opaque, or poorly grounded in host community and other affected local stakeholders' realities (e.g., concerns due to potential property value changes, viewshed impacts, sound disturbance). By mobilising social science in support of better planning and participation, Task 62 helps clarify what needs to be integrated, and when, to improve project outcomes and support more robust pathways for wind energy deployment [1][4].

Participation

Task 62 continued to grow in 2025 as an international network of researchers and practitioners working on the social dimensions of wind energy. In 2024, the Task had 4 full participant countries and 7 observers. By the end of 2025, this had grown to 8 full participants and 5 observers, reflecting stronger commitment to the Task and broadening of its wider circle of engaged countries and organisations.

Countries with Letters of Participation as full participants in 2025 were the United States, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Canada, Finland, Austria, and Denmark. Observer countries were the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and France.

Progress, Results, and Impact in 2025

In 2025, Task 62 moved from early formation following its July 2024 launch into a more visible international role, strengthening its function as a bridge between social science and wind energy deployment. A major step was the organisation and hosting of a one-day symposium at the Wind Energy Science Conference (WESC25) in Nantes, where 20 papers were presented. This gave the Task a strong international platform to demonstrate how social science can inform wind energy planning, participation, and deployment, and to position BRIDGE as a growing global knowledge network for researchers, developers, and policymakers [1]. The symposium also helped present the breadth of the Task's five work packages in a public-facing way, showing how issues of planning, participation, organisational culture, socio-environmental integration, and decision-support tools fit together in practice.

During 2025, the Task sharpened the framing of its work packages. In particular, clearer differentiation emerged between WP2: Local planning and engagement; WP4: Participation, business models, and distribution of benefits and impacts; and WP3: Organisational culture. This improved coherence across the Task and strengthened how its work could be communicated to external audiences. It also clarified the distinct but connected roles of planning and engagement processes, participation and value-sharing mechanisms, and the organisational conditions needed to enable more locally responsive and legitimate project development [3][5].

Task activities in 2025 also strengthened cross-disciplinary exchange through collaboration with IEA Wind's environmental research community. At CWW25, it co-organised an interactive workshop on integrating social and environmental sciences to support siting and permitting (Workshop 8). The workshop explored how community and ecological concerns can be addressed together rather than as separate workstreams. Participants highlighted the importance of genuine influence over decisions, earlier and more continuous engagement, approaches tailored to different community contexts, stronger integration of social and ecological considerations, and the role of trusted communicators in an environment shaped by misinformation and disinformation. This collaboration was particularly relevant to WP1 on socio-enviro-technical collaboration [4].

Throughout 2025, Task 62 members also met monthly to present and discuss research, findings, initiatives, and challenges from their respective countries. These exchanges reinforced the Task's role as a platform for experts learning from experts across countries and helped bring national research and practice into wider international discussion. Membership also strengthened during 2025, growing from 4 full participants and 7 observers in 2024 to 8 full participants and 5 observers by the end of 2025, reflecting stronger commitment to the Task while broadening its wider circle of engaged countries and organisations.

The Task's results are already being used to strengthen shared knowledge among researchers, practitioners, and policy-facing stakeholders on how social science can be better integrated into wind energy planning and participation. In 2025, this was visible through the WESC25 symposium, the CWW25 workshop, and the clearer framing of the Task's work packages, which together helped communicate more practical guidance on engagement, participation, organisational culture, socio-environmental integration, and project-related decision-making.

For participants, Task 62 provides an international forum for comparison, learning, and collaboration, helping members test ideas, refine concepts, and connect national experience to wider international developments. For industry, authorities, and policymakers, it helps translate social science into more decision-relevant guidance on planning, engagement, participation, organisational culture, and benefit-sharing. For society, environment, and climate, it supports more legitimate, locally responsive, and ultimately more robust and locally supported pathways for wind energy deployment, helping reduce avoidable conflict, delay, and project failure while improving the conditions for timely delivery of the energy transition [1][2].

Next steps

In 2026, Task 62 will continue strengthening exchange within and across its five work packages, develop further webinars, discussion notes, and practical guidance, and deepen collaboration with adjacent IEA Wind activities, especially the other social science and environmental tasks. Priorities include translating research into more usable insights for developers, authorities, and policymakers; building on WESC25 and CWW25 with a strong presence anticipated at WESC27 and key industry events following attendance at WindEurope 2026 in Madrid; and refining the Task 62 website and communications so BRIDGE more clearly disseminates findings supporting collaborative, equitable, and locally responsive wind energy planning and participation.

References

1. [1] Tegen, S. and Aston, J. (2025). Bridging social science and wind energy deployment: The role of IEA Wind Task 62. Wind Energy Science Conference 2025, Nantes.
2. [2] IEA Wind Task 62 Annual Report 2024.
3. [3] Rudolph, D. (2025). WP4 Intro. Task 62 presentation, 30 September 2025.
4. [4] CWW2025 workshop abstract (2025). Integrating Social & Environmental Sciences to Aid in Siting & Permitting.
5. [5] IEA Wind Task 62 website. iea-wind.org/task-62/.