Community obstacles to large scale solar: NIMBY and renewables
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Community obstacles to large scale solar: NIMBY and renewables Sandra George O’Neil 1 Accepted: 8 November 2020 # AESS 2020
Abstract The need to decrease dependency on fossil fuels has never been more evident. Wind and solar energy sources offer promise, but siting can present obstacles. While resistance to wind and massive solar projects has, to some extent, been explored, larger, residential, ground-mounted solar projects, requiring many acres of land, and largely dependent on the receptivity of a local community for successful adoption, have largely been left unexamined. This case study explores the resistance of residents in one suburban, New England town, to a large-scale (2 MW), ground-mounted solar project in a residential neighborhood. The case study incorporates a mixed methodology of participant observation, interview, content analysis, social media activism, and participatory action research. Both the centralized nature of large scale residential solar projects, nonlocal financiers and beneficiaries, and the desire to keep residential areas esthetically pleasing and properly zoned, fueled opposition to this solar project. This research indicates that environmental advocates and policymakers need to more fully incorporate both the meanings of, and connections to places, residents of a community hold. Incentives intended to increase solar projects should not be at the expense of procedural justice, and the push should not feed solar into the centralized system, but should be in the hands of local communities in order for them to be embraced. Additionally, this case further highlights the complexity of NIMBY thinking in renewable projects. Dismissing all renewable opposition as NIMBY is failing to see the complicated nature of residents’ motivations and understandings of place. Future research exploring the success of decentralized projects, community based projects, and projects incorporated within industrial zoning is necessary. Keywords Solar . Renewable . NIMBY . Zoning
Introduction In 2008, Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick signed the Green Communities Act (Massachusetts General Law 25A, Section 10), and committed to 250 MW of solar power generation by 2017. In addition to laying out the renewable goals and incentives for the state, the Green Communities Act set aside grants for local communities. A city or town adopting a series of green initiatives, outlined by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), the agency responsible for the implementation of the Green Communities Act, qualifies for grants toward energy efficiency projects, e.g., the installation of solar panels on the roof of a municipal building. Grants such as these are very attractive for municipalities as the much
* Sandra George O’Neil [email protected] 1
Curry College, Milton, MA, USA
needed funding can be allocated to projects that ultimately save municipalities money on energy bills. As of January 2016, there were 155 cities and towns qualified for the Green Communities program (Green Communities Designatio
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