Solar Power's 'Local Conflict' Questioned; US Study Finds Less Opposition Than Reported

Contrary to frequent media portrayals, community opposition to solar power projects in the United States is not as widespread as commonly believed, according to a comprehensive study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The findings challenge the narrative that solar development consistently faces significant local backlash.

The study, published in the journal "Energy Research & Social Science," analyzed 680 large-scale solar power projects that began commercial operation between January 2022 and November 2023. Researchers created a "conflict interest" index by analyzing keywords like "protest," "lawsuit," and "opposition" in news reports and social media posts. The results indicated that 56% of the projects experienced "no conflict" or "low conflict," while only 19% were classified as having "high conflict."

Juniper Katz, the lead researcher and a professor of public policy at UMass Amherst, noted the lack of prior research quantifying the extent of conflict surrounding solar projects nationwide. The study suggests that the media's focus on contentious cases may skew public perception. While the 19% high-conflict rate is higher than in a previous study using similar methods (4%), it is comparable to findings for wind power siting research.

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News reports repeatedly cover conflicts surrounding solar power, but there has been no research to understand what conflict actually means and how widespread it is nationwide.

An interesting finding was that projects permitted at the state level showed lower conflict levels than those permitted by local governments or through mixed approaches. Projects with state-level approval were 16.9 percentage points more likely to have "no conflict" and 9.4 percentage points less likely to have "high conflict," assuming other factors like project capacity and demographics were equal. This suggests that centralized permitting with clear standards and communication channels could reduce local opposition.

However, Katz cautioned against overinterpreting this finding, noting that centralized permitting might simply suppress visible conflict by limiting public participation. The study also found that larger project capacities correlated with higher conflict levels, and higher community household incomes were associated with less conflict. Interestingly, the proportion of votes for specific political parties did not emerge as a significant variable, contrasting with some previous research on wind power siting.

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This result shows that the political and economic framework that has dominated energy facility siting research over the past 20 years does not clearly fit the actual patterns of conflict related to solar power.