PhD defence

The rise of solar landscapes. Exploring key activities to advance practices and designing of solar power plants.

PhD candidate	M (Merel) Enserink MSc
Promotor	prof.dr.ir. S (Sven) Stremke
Co-promotor	dr.ir. R (Rudi) van Etteger MA
Organisation	Wageningen University, Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning
Date	Fri 9 May 2025 13:00 to 14:30
Venue	Omnia, building number 105 Hoge Steeg 2 6708 PH Wageningen +31 (0) 317 - 484500
Room	Auditorium

Summary

The transition to renewable energy sources leads to landscape transformation, which is not always supported by local stakeholders. Currently in The Netherlands, there is a gap between environmental and socio-cultural objectives that are held by society and (partly) addressed by policy on the one hand and the current practice of solar power plant (SPP) development on the other hand. Moreover, there is a gap between that current practice of SPP development and the scholarly work on a sustainable energy transition. These gaps between practice, society, and science call for a critical reflection on the current SPP practice to discover activities that can advance SPP development towards the co-designing of solar landscapes in which techno-economic objectives are balanced with environmental, and socio-cultural objectives. With this research I illustrate shortcomings in current SPP practice and articulate key activities to advance the co-designing of solar landscapes.