ebook
Community
Sentiment
Solar power
Meeting the considerable energy goals set by recent administrations – and doing so in a way
recently became
that respects the Earth, wildlife, and people – is no easy task.
Clean energy holds the answer. It makes use of endlessly renewable resources, reduces
33%
cheaper than gas.
pollution, and is getting more affordable all the time. This is evidenced by solar power recently
becoming 33% cheaper than gas in the United States.
Therefore, it can come as a shock when a community says “no” to solar energy or other clean
technologies. Yet many a developer has found their path blocked by the public, which holds
considerable power over whether or not projects get completed.
Of course, they should; all communities deserve a say in what occurs within their confines. The
problem is not this fundamental principle of democracy but rather that solar proponents are
unable to determine where enthusiasm lies and where obstruction takes its place.
Understanding the fundamentals of community sentiment can help fill in this blind spot, as
can using the right tools to take readings at the outset of projects. Let’s take a look at what
community sentiment is, how it can impact solar development, and why communities push
back – as well as what to do about it.
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table of contents
Want to skip ahead to a topic in which you’re
especially interested? Feel free, but make sure
you read it all in the end!
What Is Community Sentiment? 4
How Does Community Sentiment 4
Impact Solar Development?
Why Do Communities Push Back 5
on Solar?
How Can Community Sentiment 6
Delay Projects?
How Does Community Sentiment 7
Impact Legislation?
How Can We Measure Community 8
Sentiment?
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What Is Community
Sentiment?
Community sentiment, in a nutshell, is the reaction a given population has to
a specific proposal or project. This applies to everything from tearing down a
historic house to building a new shopping mall, and it applies equally to solar
development.
There are two basic types of community sentiment: quantitative and
qualitative. The first uses surveys and number-crunching to assess the broad
feeling about a project. The second uses interviews, public meetings, and
comments to form a more nuanced take.
Both have bearings on development, and either can bring a project to its knees.
How Does Community
Sentiment Impact Solar
Development?
Solar projects are not strangers to delay.
“Over the first six months of 2022 … less than half of what the industry had
planned to install in those months [came online],” says the US Energy Information
Administration. “From January through June 2022, about 20% of planned solar
photovoltaic capacity was delayed.”
Not all of these projects were delayed due to pushback from people, of course.
Yet resistance to solar is only growing as the technology matures.
We see this everywhere we look these days. For example, Reuters found “45
groups or pages on Facebook dedicated to opposing large solar projects, with
20%
names such as ‘No Solar in Our Backyards!’ and ‘Stop Solar Farms.’ Only nine
existed prior to 2020, and nearly half were created in 2021. The groups together
boast nearly 20,000 members.” of planned solar
photovoltaic capacity
That’s a steep growth curve and one that doesn’t bode well for development was delayed.
without better strategies for addressing negative sentiment. First, though, why
is this happening?
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Why Do Communities Push Back
on Solar?
What are the main reasons that communities push back on what seems, at face value,
to be a positive? There are many, including:
բ Noise of installation or operation
բ Concerns over rising costs or perceived rising costs
բ Uncertainty as to whom the project will benefit
բ Desire to use the land in other ways (e.g. forestry, agriculture)
բ Unsightliness
բ Competing priorities for low-income areas
Interestingly, some of the resistance may simply stem from the notice that comes with
reaching widespread market penetration.
“Any time you do anything at scale, you start to get resistance,” Michael Webber,
professor of energy resources at the University of Texas at Austin, told NBC News.
“There’s resistance to oil and gas, and nuclear and shopping centers. It’s a sign of
maturity in solar that, when people want to scale, you get resistance.”
It’s hard to see negative sentiment as positive, though, when it’s holding back much-
needed clean energy development. Because the truth is, naysayers have a lot of power.
Naturally, we expect this with oil and gas (pipeline delays are a dime a dozen), but we’re
now seeing similar pushback in renewables.
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A Lack of Information Causes
Wreckage
Part of the problem is simply a lack of information on the part of a community.
When asked to fill in the blanks, people will typically do so with the least
generous interpretation of the situation.
Responding to a proposed solar farm in her neighborhood, Ohio resident Debra Y.
told Spectrum News 1, “I believe that it would be so much more beneficial if we
were inching our way into the solar thing. By utilizing smaller farms that benefit
the local community, and be more involved with the people that would actually
benefit from it, rather than having all of these huge industrial solar farms moving
in and nobody seems to know anything about it—where the energy goes (or) who
benefits from it. It just seems to be all about money.”
Whatever the truth of the solar project’s benefits, the root of this sentiment is
fear. Where will the power go? Who will it help? What benefits will locals see if
they put up with the noise and bustle during development?
While such feelings are superficially inconvenient, they carry a lot of potential
power for developers. Those who can show the immediate benefits and local
improvement of their projects are likelier to sway those naysayers.
How Does Community
Sentiment Delay Projects?
There are a few tactics the public can use to delay a project.
They can protest, widening the negative sentiment until it catches local, state,
or even national attention, putting a pessimistic patina over the project. Given
enough negative press, developers often decide it isn’t worth the stress, setting
their sites on greener (less resistant) pastures.
Or people can push for regulations, claiming a need for more studies to slow
down development – and, if it runs out of funding and goodwill, even halt it in
its tracks. Some lobbyists even use this strategy to derail projects, coming into
communities from the outside and poisoning the well.
That’s not to say community sentiment only causes delay, however. In urban
communities and areas of high pollution, where energy is expensive and families
are poor, there exists considerably higher interest in clean energy. In those
places, enthusiasm can act as a positive driver.
Indeed, this interest has spurred significant legislation in recent years.
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How Does Community Congress has
appropriated
Sentiment Impact Legislation? $2.8B
Whatever your opinion of the Inflation Reduction Act’s efficacy, it has made an for climate
justice activities
impressive amount of funding available for environmental justice and climate
in underserved
projects in recent years. communities.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Congress has appropriated
$2.8 billion for financial assistance and $200 million for technical assistance” to
“carry out environmental and climate justice activities to benefit underserved and The American Rescue
overburdened communities.” Plan provided
The American Rescue Plan also earmarked money for environmental justice, $1.6B
providing $1.6 million in funds to “federally recognized tribal governments to to federally
establish or modify public participation programs where fair treatment and recognized tribal
governments.
meaningful participation priorities have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This is a cheering example of how community sentiment can get big things done,
and it applies to solar projects as well as federal legislation. When you have the
support of a community, you can move on projects more quickly, find better sites,
and make use of local resources.
Not only that but there are plenty of incentives for solar sites in disadvantaged
communities. It’s a win-win: clean, affordable energy for those who most need it,
and positive community sentiment to prop up government-approved tax incentives.
The trick is knowing ahead of time where you’ll get a good reception.
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How Can We Measure
Community Sentiment?
Even if you understand the impact of community sentiment, it can be hard
to know what to do with specific projects. Where does it fit into
the process? How can you protect capital and timelines while also protecting
people’s rights?
It’s a delicate balance to strike. All too often, developers find themselves
engaging in the logistics of a project – including negotiating with landowners,
sourcing capital, and performing risk assessments – before they’ve had a
chance to gauge the reaction of the community.
That creates confusion, frustration, and potential complications for projects,
many of which consume serious time and money and still never see the light of
day.
There is an answer. Transect’s Solar Pulse, an AI Sentiment tool, allows
developers to see the perception of solar development within a specific county.
This enables them to choose a site that works for their project and the
surrounding community.
The tool uses natural language processing to identify keywords and phrases
related to solar energy access across a wide range of online sources. A
sentiment analysis is performed to classify this sentiment as negative, neutral,
or positive. Solar Pulse then uses machine learning to track sentiment over time,
allowing developers to gauge public perception and make informed decisions
regarding the sentiment surrounding their community.
Additionally, some of the most common concerns – including national, state,
and tribal preservation – can be ordered within Transect’s marketplace to ease
community fears regarding solar. Now you can take an actual temperature
reading of the community, as well as stay compliant with cultural preservation
requirements, via Transect’s features, in minutes.
Don’t wait any longer to get the information you need to
make your project a reality. Get started with Transect today.
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