Solar power generation causes conflict

Do solar farms and forests have land-use conflicts?

Overall, our results suggest that the extent of land-use conflicts between solar farms and forests is small but widespread across the world. These results represent show how realization of climate mitigation targets through renewable energy may come at the cost of forests.

Why is project infrastructure a source of conflict?

The cost of project infrastructure, including but not limited to, renewable energy technologies (solar panels, wind turbines, etc.), transmission lines, and maintenance serves as a source of conflict because it disproportionately places the lifecycle cost burden on the Tribe, a rural community, or an otherwise marginalized group.

Why do people oppose energy projects?

Expressed concerns over potential health impacts from project. Conflicts and/or opposition to the project emerges from real or perceived threats to land value. Conflict and/or opposition to the project arises from abuses of tribal rights. The fiscal cost of energy disproportionately burdens consumers and serves as a source of conflict.

Are solar farms a threat to forests?

Solar farm expansion is threatening the ability of forests to mitigate global climate change through carbon sequestration (Roebroek et al., 2023) and to maintain a stable provision of many other ecosystem services (Olesen et al., 2022). Our results suggest that 6320 existing solar farms (9.14%) occur within forests.

Does monthly average solar radiation cause overestimation of solar energy?

In line with previous research, we found that monthly average solar radiation results in an overestimation of monthly total power (Supplementary Figs. 15 and 16) (Lei et al., 2023). This overestimation should be kept in mind when interpreting solar energy derived from the monthly mean ESMs output.

Do renewables bring peace and reduce conflict?

Overall, there is no support for the assumption that renewables bring about peace and reduce conflict. The paper critically discusses the limitations of these findings and suggests further avenues for empirical research. The energy sector accounts for more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions 1.