RE Site Finder

The German government aims to double the amount of electricity generated from renewable energies by 2030 and has enacted policy that will accelerate the growth of wind and solar power capacity, strengthen climate action, and improve energy independence. However, finding sites suitable for new wind power and ground-mounted solar systems is no easy task. Researchers working on the "RE Site Finder" project are developing a tool that will help tackle this challenge.

New legal regulations require that socio-economic, environmental, and legal criteria be considered in the planning of sites for large-scale wind power and solar PV systems, which are frequently the subject of conflicts of interest. In the "RE Site Finder" project, researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and RIFS are using the online geo-information system Web-GIS to develop an interactive tool that can be used by stakeholders in planning, consultation and participation processes to obtain information about the suitability of potential sites. The tool will help local decision-makers to identify and address conflicts of interest in regional planning processes (esp. wind power), urban land-use planning (esp. solar) and, ideally, in public participation processes.

The project will also empirically assess the tool's contribution to and impact on local decision-making processes. RIFS researchers will assess the tool's social impacts during its testing in consultation and participation processes and analyse its effectiveness for decision-making.

The central research questions of this project are:

• What attributes and conflicting objectives significantly influence the selection of sites for wind power and solar projects?
• How can these attributes and conflicting objectives be visualized in an interactive tool to support decision-making ("RE Site Finder")?
• To what extent does the use of the "RE Site Finder" in local participation and decision-making processes influence the choice of location and contribute to acceptance within affected communities?

The project pursues an inter- and transdisciplinary approach with the aim of developing a needs-orientated tool that supports stakeholders in planning, consultation, and participation processes. The "RE Site Finder" will support informed debate on the location of future RE sites and help to balance the interests of diverse stakeholders, build social acceptance, and accelerate the energy transition.

This joint research project is funded through the German government's 7th Energy Research Programme ("Energy Transition and Society").