Negotiating the energy transition: Governance trade-offs in solar deployment

While solar photovoltaic (PV) energy plays a central role in global decarbonization efforts, its large-scale deployment involves complex governance trade-offs related to land use, market design, regulatory coordination, and stakeholder engagement that demand negotiation among diverse actors. This study investigates how solar transitions are governed through dynamic interactions among multiple actors. Grounded in a dynamic governance lens, the study explores how regulatory frameworks evolve in response to shifting technological, economic, and political pressures. Using a qualitative case study of Israel, the paper examines four key arenas of negotiation: utility control versus market liberalization, intergovernmental tensions over policy instruments, regulatory–market interactions around investment certainty, and environmental and community responses to infrastructure siting. While grounded in the Israeli context, the findings offer broader insights into solar governance: it is not a linear, technocratic process, but a dynamic negotiation among institutions and stakeholders—shaping whose interests prevail and how energy transitions unfold. • A dynamic, multi-actor analysis is offered for contested energy transitions. • Four governance arenas are identified in Israel's solar energy transition. • Institutional trade-offs are shown to shape solar policy design and outcomes. • Power relations and actor roles are reconfigured through multi-actor negotiation. • Tensions are documented between policy ambition, market actors, and local interests.