Rural opposition to landscape change from solar energy: Explaining the diffusion of setback restrictions on solar farms across South Korean counties

Abstract

While the number of utility-scale solar farms in South Korea has increased in the past decade, more than half of county governments have adopted setback restrictions on solar farms. These restrictions reduce available lands for the siting of solar farms, undermining national-level decarbonization outcomes. This study shows that rural opposition to landscape change from solar farms was a key driver for South Korean county governments to adopt the restriction. The event history analysis across 225 counties from 2012 to 2020 shows that rural counties with a higher chance of landscape change from solar farms, measured with solar farm density, faced a higher risk of adopting the restriction. Interview research further suggests that rural opposition to landscape change has motivated government officials to adopt the setback restriction on solar farms. The finding of this study implies that a national renewable energy development may confront local policy barriers if the government fails to mitigate the negative impacts of renewable facilities on local communities.