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Paper short abstract:

Siting practices do not uphold procedural and distributive as policy elites aim to achieve solar capacity targets at the cost of vulnerable populations such as the landless and those dependent on common property resources, as well as the biodiversity of those regions.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the siting practices of two large-scale solar parks, the Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka and the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan, India. We conducted semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders (policy elites and local communities of differing socio-economic backgrounds) to analyze the formal and informal rules in use to the site and develop large-scale solar parks. Through actor analysis, we explain the key resource interdependencies and conflicts or confluence in the objectives and interests of different actors. We further use procedural and distributive justice to indicate free and informed consent violations, and vulnerable populations.

Preliminary findings suggest variation in the siting practices of the two states. In Rajasthan, the land bureaucracy plays a decisive role in siting processes, neglecting engagement with local communities. Solar parks have primarily come up on government-owned lands misclassified as ‘wastelands,’ neglecting the complexity of local land uses and cultural relationships of people with the land. This has prompted protests by communities to protect local biodiversity and Orans, sacred bioreserves in this region.

In Karnataka, on the other hand, the Pavagada solar park has come up on privately owned land, compelling policy elites to build some consensus for leasing land for the solar park and informing them about the plans for the solar park. However, locals complain of the inability to negotiate better compensation for the land they have leased, the lack of jobs from the new solar economy, and increased vulnerability for landless and small-holders.