Maxing Out the Benefits of Large-Scale Solar

A rapid and dramatic expansion of community- and utility-scale solar facilities is necessary to forestall the worst effects of climate change. While technological improvements and federal and state incentives have created favorable market conditions for this expansion, local siting decisions are increasingly controversial. Sound local planning is crucial to minimizing land-use conflicts and maximizing the local benefits of large-scale solar development.

This presentation introduces the concept of least-conflict solar siting, summarizes low-impact development techniques for solar projects, and highlights a range of potential benefits that large-scale solar development can confer on host communities. Participants work in small groups to develop a menu of benefit-capture strategies. Facilitators prompt participants to consider how least-conflict siting and low-impact development principles can inform policy recommendations, zoning standards, and development agreements for small towns and rural areas, metropolitan cities, and urban-fringe communities. They highlight opportunities to support policies favoring least-conflict, low-impact, and maximally beneficial solar development in local plans and translate those objectives into zoning standards and development agreements.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Advanced. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.