Public attitudes and community engagement in large-scale solar siting
2025
Sika Gadzanku | Wenrui Qu | Shahzeen Z Attari | Parrish Bergquist | Sanya Carley | Alison Knasin | David M Konisky | Gilbert Michaud | Jennifer Silva
Large-scale solar (LSS) systems represent an increasing share of energy infrastructure in the United States. The number of LSS systems is expected to continue to grow, and such expansion will require support from local communities that are asked to host new projects. Here, we perform a systematic literature review of studies that evaluate: (1) the factors that shape the perception, acceptance, and opposition of LSS; and (2) the role of stakeholders and community engagement in current LSS siting conflicts. Our review of the literature finds that local communities have complex, location-specific opinions and attitudes towards solar projects. Shaped by project characteristics such as size, land use type, and project ownership type, people value local benefits such as jobs, reduced pollution, increased tax revenue, and local ownership, and are critical of highly localized burdens such as impacts to the local landscape. We further find that scholars promote early and direct communication of potential benefits and tradeoffs, as well as an inclusive decision-making process and engagement activities that reflect community values and build trust. Our review reveals that further research is needed to investigate the roles and impacts of: (1) emerging LSS configurations such as solar plus storage hybrids and LSS projects paired with transmission and substation additions; (2) evolving LSS stakeholder groups including landowners, agricultural industry, and the media; and (3) causal relationships between public perceptions, community engagement activities, and project outcomes.
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