Meaningful local engagement key to floating PV acceptance

Involving communities throughout the development of a floating PV park is key to securing local project support, according to new research.

Researchers Carel Dieperink and Henriëtte Tulp, from the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, developed an analytical framework to compare the social acceptance of three Dutch floating PV projects. Their findings are presented in the paper, Turning rejection into reflection: Exploring factors influencing community acceptance of floating solar photovoltaic systems in the Netherlands, available in the journal Energy Policy.

The three floating PV projects included in the research, named Beilen, Deest and Tynaarlo and located in the municipalities Druten, Midden-Drenthe and Tynaarlo, were selected from a group of the the ten largest floating PV parks in the Netherlands.

Each of the three projects are situated on former sand extraction lakes, are between 15-30 MW in capacity and are situated at similar distances from residential areas with broadly similar socio-demographic characteristics, the research paper says.

While the Beilen project received strong public support, the Deest project saw strong opposition and the Tynaarlo site received a neutral response, allowing for Dieperink and Tulp to compare how acceptance differs across contexts while controlling for key project characteristics.

Tulp told pv magazine that across all three case studies, a combination of factors including visual impact, landscape context, perceived environmental impacts, trust in developers and authorities, opportunities for local involvement and tangible community benefits all played an important role in the level of community acceptance for floating PV projects.

“Although the same factors were consistently considered important across all three case studies, community acceptance differed because these concerns were addressed differently in each project.” Tulp explained.

She added that local residents were actively involved throughout the process and had opportunities for co-ownership in in Beilen while residents felt insufficiently involved and were concerned about the loss of recreational value in Deest, suggesting that the quality of community engagement can be as important for project success as factors such as environmental assessments.

“Our findings suggest that successful floating PV projects depend not only on good technical design, but also on meaningful engagement with local communities,” Tulp told pv magazine. “Social acceptance should therefore be considered an integral part of project development rather than something that is addressed once opposition emerges.”

Tulp recommended involving local communities from the earliest stages of project development, before major decisions have been made, to ensure social acceptance of floating PV projects.

“People are generally more willing to support projects when they feel their concerns are genuinely heard and when they have opportunities to influence the process,” she explained. “It is also important to communicate transparently about both the benefits and the potential impacts of floating PV projects. Open communication helps build trust and reduces uncertainty.”

Encouraging or requiring developers to demonstrate how local companies have been involved throughout the planning processes and how local concerns have been incorporated into project design could help to incentivize this further, Tulp said. 

This would require policymakers to look at how subsidy schemes are designed: “While financial incentives are essential for accelerating renewable energy deployment, subsidy programmes should also allow sufficient time for high-quality community engagement,” Tulp explained. “Otherwise, they may unintentionally encourage rushed, top-down decision-making, ultimately undermining the social acceptance needed for successful implementation.”

Projects should also look to create tangible local benefits, such as community investment opportunities or other forms of local value sharing, Tulp continued, with the research indicating that projects are more likely to gain acceptance when local communities experience clear benefits alongside the broader climate benefits.

Developers should also carefully consider site selection, Tulp added, particularly in regards to the visual integration of projects into the landscape and the potential effects on recreation and nature.

“These issues were consistently important across all three case studies,” Tulp told pv magazine. “This also means looking beyond formal land-use classifications. A site may appear suitable on paper, but local communities may experience it very differently.”

Policymakers should also recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for floating PV, Tulp said.

“Every project is embedded in a unique local context, so policies should create room for meaningful dialogue and locally tailored approaches rather than relying on standardised engagement procedures,” she explained.

A 96 MW floating solar array, set to be one of Europe’s largest once operational, is under development in Rotterdam. The array will not feed energy to the grid, instead serving local businesses. 

The latest round of the Netherlands’ subsidies for large-scale renewable energy projects, announced earlier this month, included support for three floating PV projects with a combined capacity of 58 MW.