Do local parties only mind their own business? Explaining the deployment of large-scale solar energy projects in Germany

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science Pub Date : 2025-02-08 DOI:10.1016/j.erss.2025.103968

Stefan Ćetković, Jules Bertemes

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

While the literature on community acceptance of renewable energy projects has largely focused on public acceptance, the factors behind the political approval of renewable energy projects by local decision-makers have remained largely unexplored. In this article, we address this gap by investigating the relationship between the party composition of local parliaments, national election results and deployment of large-scale solar energy projects focusing empirically on the German Federal State of Bavaria during 2008–2020. We find that the party composition of the local parliaments in Bavaria has a strong and robust effect on the likelihood that a municipality will witness the implementation of solar parks. We particularly find that the major negative effect on the deployment of solar parks is associated with the strong presence of the independent local parties in the local parliaments. The success of the Green Party and the far-right populists in national elections has found to be less relevant for the local solar park deployment.

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来源期刊

Energy Research & Social Science ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES-

CiteScore

14.00

自引率

16.40%

发文量

441

审稿时长

55 days

期刊介绍： Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers. Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.