Thus, there remains a research gap on determinants shaping actual community responses to solar farms, which is important as public support has been found to shift when people are asked to think concretely rather than abstractly about the impacts of solar energy projects (Sütterlin and Siegrist, 2017).
In doing so, it provides the first empirical study of community acceptance of a large-scale solar farm in a developed country context, building on existing studies which use hypothetical approaches such as choice experiments, or surveys which measure general attitudes rather than responses to specific developments.
The solar PV system provides significant energy savings for the school and community center, reducing their annual electricity costs by approximately €8,000. The project has also served as an educational tool, teaching students and residents about renewable energy and sustainability.
Alternatively, the total area of land used for energy production could be capped through spatially explicit strategic planning. Finally, we highlight the role of policy and process in shaping community acceptance of solar farms.
Finally, we highlight the role of policy and process in shaping community acceptance of solar farms. We find that people’s broader views on energy policy feed into their views on specific infrastructure projects such as Cleve Hill, which we describe as a ‘relational’ understanding of community acceptance.
Another policy approach would be to make more use of community benefit funds to compensate host communities for the impacts of solar farms.