Multi-Criteria Tool for Assessing the Social Acceptance of RM-GES Gravity Energy Storage Projects in Post-Mining Sites

The deployment of Rail-based Mine Gravity Energy Storage (RM-GES) technology in post-mining regions requires a systematic assessment of social acceptance conditions as a prerequisite for investment and regulatory approval. This paper presents the development, internal validation, and pilot empirical application of a standardised Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) framework for assessing the social acceptance of RM-GES, developed within the GrEnMine project (Research Fund for Coal and Steel, RFCS-2023-01-RPJ). The framework examines social acceptance across six dimensions-socio-political acceptance, community acceptance, market acceptance, risk perception, institutional trust, and perceived equity-aligned with Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 establishing the Just Transition Fund (JTF). Six standardised instruments were developed and validated for multilingual administration across the four GrEnMine pilot regions; the present pilot applied the Romanian-language versions only. Pilot data from the Petrila Living Lab (Jiu Valley, Romania), comprising 112 questionnaire responses, four interviews with public authority representatives, two focus groups (n = 23 participants), and 98 equity questionnaires, yielded a preliminary composite MCA score of 66/100, classified as „recommended with conditions”. A sensitivity analysis conducted across six weighting scenarios demonstrated score stability (±4 points). The main finding is that 68% of focus-group participants expressed conditional rather than unconditional acceptance, with the coexistence of RM-GES infrastructure and industrial heritage emerging as the primary condition for acceptance. This finding is directly relevant to RM-GES project design in the context of the Jiu Valley.