Most large-scale solar energy projects in the United States encounter relatively little public conflict, despite widespread perceptions that opposition to solar development is common, according to a new study led by University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers.
Published in Energy Research & Social Science , the study analyzed 686 large-scale solar facilities that went online between January 2022 and November 2023. Researchers found that 56% of projects fell into “no” or “low” conflict categories, while 19% saw high levels of conflict.
The study also found that projects approved under state-level permitting systems were associated with lower levels of observed conflict compared with projects reviewed under local or hybrid permitting structures. Larger projects were more likely to involve more conflict, while the share of Democratic voters in the area surrounding development sites showed no statistically significant relationship to opposition levels.
Lead author Juniper Katz , assistant professor of public policy at UMass Amherst, says the project grew out of a disconnect between public perception and the available evidence on solar siting disputes.
“All I saw in the news was conflict, conflict, conflict over solar,” Katz explains. “But there was really very little research that operationalized what conflict means and looked at it from a national scale to understand if the appearance of conflict was as prevalent as it seemed.”
The study comes as electricity demand and utility bills rise alongside rapid growth in energy-intensive technologies such as artificial intelligence and data centers. Katz insists that understanding the drivers of renewable energy conflict will become increasingly important as governments seek to expand energy generation capacity.
The research team, which also includes UMass Amherst alumnae Natalie Baillargeon MPPA ’26 and Alice Potapov ’26, gauged conflict by analyzing news coverage and social media posts that used terms associated with public disputes, such as “protest,” “lawsuit” and “opposition.” The study is the first to systematically examine the relationship between permitting jurisdiction and solar conflict nationwide.
The findings also differ from earlier research on wind energy development. Unlike studies of wind projects, the researchers did not find that wealthier, whiter or more Democratic communities were consistently associated with higher levels of solar opposition.
“We shouldn’t just assume that all renewable energy is the same in terms of how it gets from conception to build-out,” Katz notes.
She cautions that the findings should not be interpreted as evidence that state permitting systems are inherently better than local review processes. Instead, the results highlight the need for more research into how different permitting structures shape public participation and project outcomes.
The research was supported by the Elevating Equity Values in the Transition of the Energy System (ELEVATE) at UMass Amherst, using funds from the U.S. National Science Foundation NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program.
Energy Research & Social Science
Sunburned? Conflict prevalence in 686 United States solar projects