What is it about?
This study looks at how rural communities think about either large-scale or small-scale renewable energy projects. The data relied on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations in rural communities engaged in these projects. The findings demonstrate that effects on land rights and land use play an important role for rural communities. The analysis highlights that rural communities weigh the pros and cons in a different manner than developers or governments.
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Why is it important?
Often the opinions and view of rural communities are forgotten in renewable energy projects. Big projects from big developers primarily look at revenues and not so much as whether it will change rural lives. As both large and small projects will need land which is often used by rural farmers, it is crucial to understand how these rural farmers see whether it will be beneficial to them. This article makes the reasoning and impact assessment from a rural farmer point of view more insightful than simply reasoning from the project developers' benefits.
Perspectives
This research is interesting because it makes a critical evaluation of different perspectives of when which change is beneficial for rural communities and when not. The findings call for more critical investigation of under which conditions one designs large-scale or small- scale renewable energy projects.
Professor Walter Timo de Vries
Technical University of Munich
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Comparative analysis of rural communities’ tradeoffs in large-scale and small-scale renewable energy projects in Kenya, Discover Sustainability, November 2024, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s43621-024-00637-0.
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