Misinformation stalling rural renewable energy projects

Anti-wind turbine sign in the front yard of a farmhouse in Glenville,
Minn., in January 2018 (Associated Press photo by Charlie Neibergall)

Climate experts worldwide say it's critical to shift away from fossil fuels to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. But in the U.S. and abroad, dozens of grassroots efforts oppose utility-scale wind and solar projects. "Researchers say that in many groups, misinformation is raising doubts about renewable energy and slowing or derailing projects," Julia Simon reports for NPR.

Such opposition could slow efforts to wean the nation's electrical grids off fossil fuels, especially since 60 percent of electricity in the U.S. still comes from carbon-based fuels. "For the Biden administration to hit its target of an electricity sector free of fossil fuels by 2035, the country has to double or triple the wind and solar power capacity it installs over the next few years and maintain that higher level of deployments for about a decade," Simon reports. "Yet every single rural utility-scale wind and solar project needs local or state approval to get built, says Sarah Mills, who researches rural renewable energy at the University of Michigan. And she says it's in those often-fractious discussions about approval that misinformation is sometimes halting and stalling the installation of the renewables the climate needs.

"At the end of the day, if local governments are not setting rules that allow for the infrastructure to be sited, those policies cannot be achieved," Mills told Simon.

Regulations on rural utility-scale solar and wind projects are determined at the local level in about half of U.S. states. So local opposition groups, many flooded with misinformation, can have an outsized impact. "These local officials are not necessarily experts in energy," Mills told Simon. "And so when you have people coming and stating things as facts, especially if there's nobody fact-checking everything, right, it's difficult. They're certainly making decisions based on what they're hearing."

Some popular misinformation about renewable energy comes from former President Donald Trump, who frequently repeats false and misleading anti-wind claims. Groups with ties to the fossil fuel industry are another source, such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Simon reports. And anti-renewable lawmakers can drive suspicion as well as bar rural utility-scale projects. Several states have proposed bills to restrict them this year, including Washington, Iowa and Kansas.

Facebook is one of the biggest sources of misleading content, according to University of Minnesota Duluth researcher Josh Fergen. He and colleagues published a paper last year examining two citizen-led groups that opposed local wind projects. The paper found that posts in the groups' Facebook pages amped up fears about health and safety with lopsided coverage of disasters and frequent posts with false or misleading claims, many of which Facebook had not tagged with warnings. At least one of the projects was rejected, partly because of local opposition.

An Energy Department spokesperson said they're trying to do more local outreach to combat misinformation about utility-scale renewable energy projects, but Dahvi Wilson, spokesperson for renewable energy developer Apex Clean Energy, said the company is finding local engagement increasingly difficult nationwide because so many people are already suspicious about renewable energy, Simon reports.

"I think for a long time, and maybe still in some places, developers thought, 'Well, we just need to give better information. We just need to give more information.' And it's like, 'It's so not about that at all!'" Wilson told Simon. "It's about who you trust, and if anybody's going to believe you if you're a company."