The forced expansion of renewable energy sources has induced within a few years time a cultural landscape of a new kind. The traditional natural scenery, dominated by agricultural parcels, islands of forest, and condensed areas of settlement, is continually being amended by decentralized power plants such as wind parks, solar and biomass power plants. Still we are far from the development of pure energy landscapes, as it is feared by local historic associations and nature conservation organisations. Restrictive regional planning, annual amendments to the principles of remuneration given in the Renewable Energies Act, as well as declining government aid are putting hard spatial strain on the renewable energy system. Yet pressure on the usage of rural space has been augmented by the present development and has led to new dimensions of competition for the usage of acreage. Thus, a discussion of the future role of rural areas as a location for new technologies seems appropriate.

The implementation of many small power stations compensates the closing of powerful large power plants as part of the German Energy Transition is compensated. It is unclear how site decisions are made, which actors are involved, and which economic, ecological, and social consequences occur. The quantitative study consists of a written postal survey of renewable energy plant operators, concerning central aspects of project development. The study found strong regional disparities concerning the entrepreneurial behavior of plant operators of renewable energies, a low importance of socio-institutional and socio-cultural parameters, a great relevance of micro-social environment during site planning of renewable energy plants, and that plant operators are highly influenced by economic and individual desires. It may be concluded that the perspectives operators have on the Energy Transitions must be more systematically included into the discourse regarding the sustainable deployment of renewable energies, as they reveal significant disparities with topics that are emphasized by the public (e.g., landscape aesthetic, citizens’ participation). It was shown that the challenges and problems that arise in the context of regional energy transformation cannot be generalized beyond regional circumstances; rather, they must be regarded as specific regional phenomena that have to be overcome by means of regionally adapted energy concepts.

The study analyses the characteristic features of energy landscapes. By the example of the German energy transition, it is discussed in how far they are an expression of social inequality and injustice. Based on a review of the literature on socio-technical and socio-ecological dimensions of energy landscapes, the central findings will be integrated into Henri Lefebvre's concept “The Production of Space”. Thereby, those social spaces are identified which are constructed by the powerful actors of the energy transition on the basis of neoliberal spatial concepts and which become the origins of unequal and unjust energy landscapes. Furthermore, it will be discussed whether and how energy landscapes can be distinguished from other landscapes and where these boundaries run when the representative and discursive features of energy landscapes are brought to the fore. The study reveals that Lefebvre's spatial concept is well suited to expose the powerfully enforced and socially unbalanced territorial structures of energy landscapes and to distinguish them from the symbolic, emotional, and idealistic reference points that arise from the everyday life in these landscapes. It becomes clear that infrastructure measures for climate protection only appear socially viable if the production of sustainable energy landscapes is understood as the production of a discourse about sustainability, equality, and justice. Zusammenfassung Im Rahmen der Studie werden die charakteristischen Eigenschaften von Energielandschaften analysiert und dahingehend erörtert, wie sie am Beispiel der deutschen Energiewende Ausdruck gesellschaftlicher Ungleichheiten und Ungerechtigkeiten sind. Auf Basis eines Literatur-Reviews zu den soziotechnischen und sozioökologischen Dimensionen von Energielandschaften werden hierzu die zentralen Befunde in das von Henri Lefebvre entwickelte Konzept „Die Produktion des Raumes“ eingeordnet. Dadurch ist es möglich, jene sozialen Räume zu identifizieren, die von den machtvollen Akteuren der Energiewende auf Basis neoliberaler Raumkonzepte konstruiert und zu Ausgangspunkten ungleicher und ungerechter Energielandschaften werden. Des Weiteren soll erörtert werden, ob und wie Energielandschaften von anderen Landschaften abgegrenzt werden können und wo diese Grenzen verlaufen, wenn die repräsentativen und diskursiven Merkmale von Energielandschaften in den Vordergrund gerückt werden. Die Studie offenbart, dass Lefebvres raumtheoretisches Konzept sich gut dazu eignet, die mit Macht durchsetzten und sozial unausgewogenen territorialen Strukturen von Energielandschaften freizulegen und von den symbolischen, emotionalen und ideellen Bezugspunkten, die sich aus dem Leben der Menschen in diesen Landschaften ergeben, zu unterscheiden. Darüber hinaus wird deutlich, dass Infrastrukturmaßnahmen zum Klimaschutz nur dann gesellschaftlich tragfähig erscheinen, wenn die Produktion nachhaltiger Energielandschaften zuallererst als Produktion eines Diskurses um Nachhaltigkeit, Gleichheit und Gerechtigkeit begriffen wird.

GIS-based approaches for the optimal expansion of renewable energies are characterized by a strong dominance of engineering-oriented perspectives. It is acknowledged that combining techno-economic site analysis with social aspects can be beneficial for acceptance. However, this strategy's success is limited if essential theoretical perceptions obtained from social and economic sciences are neglected, degrading social parameters to simplified elements of GIS-based approaches. The study discusses the fundamental criticism of a techno-economic oriented and target-deterministic energy planning by GIS. Proceeding from this, more complex approaches to the integration of social perspectives into GIS-planning tools are exemplified.

Potential spatio-temporal patterns of renewable energies that take into account international climate protection strategies have been neither analysed nor visualised exactly in terms of their landscape complexity. Furthermore, it is unclear what land uses would be prevalent in new energy landscapes, due to a lack of restrictions, and which social conflicts would be associated with these land use changes. There is no knowledge at all about the extent to which existing land use, which has emerged from a capitalistic order, affects the achievement of a carbon-neutral and socially just society. It is also not clear how far it is possible to identify alternative spatial patterns of sustainable energy transition by altering spatial restrictions concerning renewable energies. For this reason, we want to model and visualise a regional energy landscape that corresponds to the objectives of the UN Climate Conference in terms of its regional greenhouse gas balance in the electricity sector. In this regard, the study provides a detailed analysis of the landscape transformations that would occur in rural spaces if those values which attempt to link energy transition to the Paris Agreement were to prevail. The analyses reveal that a strict orientation of the expansion of renewable energies towards climate protection goals would strongly mechanise rural areas, thus significantly transforming their social patterns.