Drivers and energy justice implications of renewable energy project siting in the United States

ABSTRACT

The rapid expansion of solar and wind energy projects is raising questions of energy justice. Some scholars argue that solar and wind project development could burden under-resourced communities with negative impacts such as environmental harm and reduced access to resources. Conversely, other scholars argue that project development could be a boon to under-resourced communities, providing local economic and cultural benefits. Here, we analyze the drivers of solar and wind project siting patterns in the United States and explore their potential energy justice implications. We find that siting patterns are driven primarily by technoeconomic factors, especially resource quality and access to open undeveloped spaces. These technoeconomic factors channel projects into sparsely populated rural areas and, to a lesser extent, areas with lower income levels. We avoid simplifying assumptions about the broad justice implications of these siting patterns and explore our results from multiple perspectives.

KEYWORDS:

• Solar
• wind
• siting
• land use
• energy justice

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. For reviewing earlier versions of this work, the authors would like to thank Elizabeth Gill, Will Gorman, James (Hyungkwan) Kim, Eric Lantz, Anthony Lopez, Abigail Randall, and Maggie Yancey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration of interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by U.S. Department of Energy: DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Notes on contributors

Eric O’Shaughnessy

Eric O'Shaughnessy is a research affiliate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He specializes in analysis of distributed energy resource and voluntary green power markets. He received his MPA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BSc in Environmental Economics and Policy from Michigan State University.

Ryan Wiser

Ryan Wiser is a Senior Scientist in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He leads and conducts research on the economics of renewable electricity systems. He holds a bachelors degree from Stanford University, and a masters and PhD in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ben Hoen

Ben Hoen is a Research Scientist in the Electricity Markets and Policy Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He conducts research and analysis on renewable energy, including: renewable energy policy analysis and assistance; cost, benefit and market analysis; and, public acceptance and deployment barriers. He has a MS in Environmental Policy from Bard College and BAs in Finance and Business from the University of Maryland.

Joseph Rand

Joseph Rand is a Senior Scientific Engineering Associate in the Electricity Markets and Policy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He conducts research and analysis on renewable energy, including: renewable energy policy, cost, and market analysis; spatial data analysis; and research related to public acceptance and deployment barriers of renewable energy. He holds a master's degree in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from Macalester College.

Salma Elmallah

Salma Elmallah is a Graduate Student Research Assistant in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department and a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory spans projects on community and property value impacts of renewable energy development and analysis of solar and storage systems. She has an MS in Energy and Resources from University of California, Berkeley and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta.