Integrating social considerations in multicriteria decision analysis for utility-scale solar photovoltaic siting

Solar photovoltaic facilities are cropping up with ever-increasing size and frequency. Often, these utility-scale projects incite opposition from local communities – once branded a “Not in my backyard” reaction. Here we conduct a cross-disciplinary review covering two interrelated topics: 1) solar siting analyses utilizing a geographical information system – multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) approach and 2) social science research discussing public responses to solar photovoltaic development. We follow this with a discussion on how to improve GIS-MCDA by more explicitly including aspects of the people and the place under study. Past research leans primarily upon technical and economic criteria directly related to the solar facility itself, largely ignoring social considerations, which are important for public acceptability and fairness. Incorporating siting criteria reflecting the interests of local people and how they interact with their immediate environment would not only improve the process for developers, but it could also be adapted to mitigate inequalities pervasive in the historical siting of energy facilities.