Agriculture and Solar Farms

Abstract

Utility-scale solar development has raised considerable local land use concerns. We investigate stakeholders’ valuations for solar project attributes, focusing on land use trade-offs with a choice experiment in U.S. state of Iowa that incorporates information treatments and choice uncertainty. Results indicate substantial heterogeneity, with public officials and landowners valuing high-quality farmland significantly more than the general population and non-landowners. However, information treatments do not significantly affect attribute tradeoffs, though they influence overall support for solar. Rankings of land use challenges vary with respondents’ farming backgrounds and solar experiences and interests. Findings highlight stakeholder-specific preferences shaping local acceptance of solar projects.