An attainable site suitability index for utility-scale solar facilities

Abstract

Large, utility-scale solar energy facilities are increasingly being deployed throughout the United States, with nearly 10 000 projects over 1 megawatt completed by the end of 2023. One understudied aspect of the decision making process for these solar projects concerns site suitability. The current body of literature on this topic has identified core infrastructure, such as substations or transmission lines, as important in this process, yet other variables serve as potentially important drivers. This research aims to provide policymakers, planners, and regulators with a practically applicable method to better identify areas that are suitable candidates for such solar facilities. In particular, this paper develops a replicable method that produces a site suitability index that accounts for a suite of variables that are considered key, positive factors in where solar facilities ought to locate, including: (1) economic factors; (2) critical infrastructure and high energy users; and (3) workforce. Ultimately, our work is valuable to government and local officials such as policymakers and planners with limited resources and in-house capacity to understand the suitability for energy infrastructure. In fact, providing an attainable index for the site suitability of utility-scale solar facilities reduces the burden on policy and planning related stakeholders to understand the competitive advantage of their regions and to convey it to interested developers.