New research commissioned by Solar Energy UK has shown that 77% of British public development of solar energy in their local area supports.
The survey conducted by Copper Consultancy, investigates the attitude towards PV energy plants for solar energy, which shows that since 2023 there has been an increase of 4% in support for PV development on solar energy.
The vast majority of respondents expressed support for solar development in their local area, where 77% said they “support” or “strong support”. The share of those who say that they are locally against solar developments against them, has also risen, from 4% in 2023 to 13% in the 2024 survey.
There has still been an outspoken opinion of the opinion in the direction of support for solar energy. A total of 68% of the respondents said that their opinion on solar energy had changed over the past 12 months, with 55% the industry supporters and 13% becomes more opponent.
When the public was asked what they considered the biggest advantage of solar energy, the top result remained unchanged compared to the survey of the previous year. A total of 43% of the respondents stated that they saw that the local community saw cheap energy as an important advantage of solar energy, an increase of 32% in 2023. A further 41% considered the delivery of clean energy to the local area as an important advantage.
The perception has improved, but communication must be clearer
Solar Energy UK notes that the results of the survey indicate that the beneficial impact that solar farms can have at biodiversity should be better communicated to the public.
Although only 11% of the respondents stated that they were not aware of the contribution that solar farms can recover, a decrease of 42% in 2023, only 13% of the biodiversity surveyed mentioned as an important advantage of solar developments. However, the share of the public that regards the impact on the animals in the wild as the main disadvantage of the sun sector has also risen, from 27.5% in 2023 to 42% in the most recent survey.
Moreover, the research showed that the general public is still largely not aware of the reasons why solar developers choose to select certain sites as locations for solar developments.
While the percentage of people who believe that there is “no important reason” why specific sites have been reserved for solar developments since 2023 has fallen, from 34.5% to 20.3% today, only 10% of the respondents in 2024 are understood that the primary reason for Solar PV PV -Confluence, which has been based on, has been based on access.
Solar Energy UK investigates the results of this survey and has made various recommendations for the solar industry. These include better public communication to explain the benefits of solar energy and to encourage a more optimistic perception of solar PV, to collaborate with the government, local communities and local authorities to get more solar energy over the line and to communicate solar energy as a solution for regional and individual challenges.
“Sun farms are popular, and public support becomes even stronger. As more solar energy is used throughout the country and the public consciousness grows further, it is good to see that the nature benefits become better known, but we must improve the involvement of the community so that more people understand how to bring Sol, the Soles of the Projects,” said the Projects, said the Projects, “Subsive the Projects, said the Projects.” Uk.
