To own the land is to own the sunlight: the significance of land tenure for solar power

The world is currently experiencing tremendous growth in the deployment of solar photovoltaic panels. Most of this new capacity is being located on rural, agricultural, or other comparatively less developed land. In this context, land tenure—the formal and informal rules governing who can access, use, control, and benefit from land—matters enormously in shaping the trajectories of both solar and social development, in ways yet barely explored in the literature on renewable energy development. As part of a special issue on ‘The Dawn of Solar Photovoltaics,’ this commentary explicates the role of land tenure in the development of solar power.