PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gaur, Vasundhara
AU  - Lang, Corey
AU  - Howard, Gregory
AU  - Quainoo, Ruth
TI  - When Energy Issues are Land Use Issues: Estimating Preferences for Utility-Scale Solar Energy Siting
AID  - 10.3368/le.99.3.111221-0130R1
DP  - 2022 Nov 23
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 111221-0130R1
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2022/11/17/le.99.3.111221-0130R1.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2022/11/17/le.99.3.111221-0130R1.full
AB  - While solar energy receives broad support in general, utility-scale solar arrays can be contentious because at the siting stage it becomes a land use issue replete with potential disamenities and tradeoffs. We conduct a choice experiment survey to estimate preferences for attributes of utility-scale solar arrays in Rhode Island, USA. Our results suggest the largest indicator of solar development approval is prior land use, with residents willing to pay an additional $10-21 in monthly utility bills for developments in commercial, industrial, brownfield, and covered landfill areas, and $13-49 to avoid developments on farm and forest land.