Utility-Scale Developers Seek Input From Renewable Energy Host Communities, But Experience Challenges Implementing Community Engagement

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Berkeley Lab examine reveals how business engages with vitality host communities when creating giant wind and photo voltaic initiatives.

The rising deployment of utility-scale wind and photo voltaic vitality throughout the US highlights debates in regards to the acceptable function for the general public in siting and allowing choices. Necessary to those discussions is an intensive understanding of the present engagement practices and views of photo voltaic and wind venture builders. This examine gives necessary insights into present business practices, builders’ preferences for group enter, and potential challenges related to engagement.

The examine, printed in Vitality Analysis and Social Science in an open-access format, is accessible right here: https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/halfway-ladder-developer-practices.

The authors will host a webinar overlaying the examine outcomes on August 29, 2024, at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. Register right here: https://lbnl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vNVHmIK2QFi6_I19TmSwVA

Drawing on the responses of 123 professionals from 62 distinctive growth firms, key takeaways from this examine are:

• Builders report rising challenges to group engagement, comparable to organized opposition, the unfold of misinformation, excessive prices, and lack of proof about which methods to deal with opposition are the simplest.
• Builders generally use quite a lot of engagement methods, together with adjusting venture designs and negotiating compensation, in response to this group suggestionswhich provide examples of probably productive methods communities and builders can co-design some facets of initiatives. Group possession, which is often cited as an efficient strategy to have interaction group members, isn’t employed for these large-scale initiatives.

• The general public is mostly not notified of venture proposals till after website management, when the land for the venture has already been secured by way of lease or buywhich limits the quantity of venture adjustments which can be potential in response to group suggestions.
• Trade expenditures on group engagement are small compared to different venture growth prices, typically representing lower than 0.1% of common whole capital expenditurespointing to a possible alternative to extend efforts with out considerably affecting venture prices.
• Builders desire that the general public present enter into siting choices, however not suggest particular venture choices nor instantly make venture choices, which means collaborative relationships with communities may take builders out of their consolation zones.

Advocates for procedural justice within the vitality transition sometimes envision larger ranges of citizen involvement in choice making than is exhibited by these present tendencies, demonstrating a necessity for larger dialogue throughout various kinds of stakeholders to make suggestions or formulate greatest practices about significant public engagement. The main target of this examine is restricted to the views of venture builders, however extra analysis is underway to look at the viewpoints of different stakeholders comparable to venture neighbors and allowing officers.

Further data and outcomes from this survey have been beforehand printed and accessible at: https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/survey-utility-scale-wind-and-solar.

We thank the U.S. Division of Vitality’s Wind Vitality Applied sciences Workplace for his or her help of this work and the quite a few people and organizations who generously offered knowledge and reviewed our examine.

We thank the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office for his or her help of this work and the quite a few people and organizations who generously offered knowledge and reviewed our examine.

The Energy Markets and Policy Department at Berkeley Lab conducts technical, financial, and coverage analyses of vitality matters centered on the U.S. electrical energy sector.

Courtesy of Robi Nilson, Joe Rand, Ben Hoen, and Salma Elmallah, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory