Involving citizens in heat planning: A participatory process design for informed decision-making

Participatory energy planning at the local level engages citizens, builds legitimacy and trust, and increases successful implementation of renewable energies. In the context of heat planning, technology choices highly vary depending on the local context and social conditions and including social input therefore benefits the planning process. This research adds to the current literature, which lacks concrete examples and verified approaches that clarify what the guiding principles of participatory energy planning are and how the opportunities and challenges can be dealt with. This paper elaborates on these opportunities and challenges and proposes a process design, using multiple tools (a survey, an Information-choice Questionnaire, and workshops) to collect the social input that is necessary to make technology choices in a participatory manner. The process design is applied and tested in a case study of a Dutch neighbourhood and lessons learned are drafted as a basis for further research.