Community engagement, which has always been an issue for large infrastructure projects, is getting thornier.
Amidst the skyrocketing growth of solar and wind energy projects across the country – 33.8 gigawatts of utility-scale clean energy projects were added in 2023 alone – utility-scale renewables developers report increasing challenges in dealing with the public. Organized opposition, the spread of misinformation, and high costs are among the culprits, according to new Berkeley Lab research that surveyed over 120 professionals from 62 development companies.
The study finds that community opposition and ordinances limiting renewable development are the “leading causes of project delays and cancellations,” on par with grid interconnection issues. Participants describe it as a “major, major factor for developers” and “one of, if not THE, biggest challenge to widespread decarbonization.”
The amount of industry money spent on it, however, is negligible. Community engagement is often less than 0.1% of the average total capital expenditures, according to the report, which points to “a potential opportunity to increase efforts without significantly affecting project costs.”
A lack of playbook
There’s no clear industry standard on how to deal with the problem, and developers have engaged in many different practices to keep the community well-disposed. Attending local government meetings, hosting in-person meetings with stakeholders, and doing project open houses are among the most common habits. Conducting public opinion polls and using third-party facilitators, on the other hand, are strategies used for only around 25% of the projects surveyed.
Some have found “community donations and volunteering, employing local staff, and hosting private events for project landowners” particularly useful.
Regardless of how, engaging the community is fundamental.
The majority of the developers surveyed agreed that “community engagement results in fewer project cancellations” and that projects that ended up being canceled would have benefited from the developers starting community engagement earlier in the process.
In 22% of the canceled projects included in the study, most of the public was unaware of what was happening, versus only 1% for successful projects. In 60% of successful projects, the public provided some input.
Engagement – up to a point
If zero community engagement is not good, too much can be counterproductive.
In 6% of canceled projects, the public made decisions, something it didn’t do in any of the successful ones. One respondent noted that a 3-year window of engagement before a project’s permit application ultimately led to “opposition to form and spread a lot of misinformation,” which led to local officials withdrawing support and passing new solar zoning restrictions.
Overall, the study finds that the vast majority of developers think the public should limit itself to providing input, especially on siting, without making any specific project recommendations or decisions.
That’s less citizen involvement than what advocates for “procedural justice in the energy transition” envision, which demonstrates “a need for greater dialogue across different types of stakeholders,” according to the report.
