Stakeholder views of land conflicts in utility-scale solar energy: toward a spatial assessment tool

Abstract Renewable energy sources (RES) power plants, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) infrastructure, are being deployed at an unprecedented scale to allow the transition to carbon neutrality. Rapid expansion of PV facilities cannot proceed without careful consideration of spatial planning and environmental impacts. Although social acceptance of RES is generally high, there is little consensus on where such plants should be located, as stakeholders perceive their impacts in diverse and often conflicting ways. This study aimed to (i) assess the spatial distribution of planned utility-scale solar power plants (SPPs) in Portugal in relation to environmentally and culturally sensitive areas; (ii) analyse stakeholder perceptions of SPP impacts across different land uses and territorial settings; and (iii) develop an impact index that incorporates stakeholder information to classify PV projects by degree of impact. An online survey was conducted to examine perceived impacts associated with SPP development, and a classification methodology was designed using an additive aggregation method to produce a GIS-based index to classify projects. The questionnaire answers reveal substantial heterogeneity in individual preferences but also indicate intragroup convergence and intergroup divergence among stakeholder groups. The impact index provides a framework for classifying land-use conflicts related to large-scale solar projects and enables preliminary assessment of planned developments in relation to stakeholder alignment. These findings contribute to spatial energy planning by demonstrating how stakeholder perceptions of land-related impacts can be operationalised to inform siting decisions for RES plants.