Wind turbines, solar farms, and house prices*

This paper examines the effect of wind turbines and solar farms on house prices. Using detailed data from the Netherlands between 1985 and 2019, the results show that tall wind turbines have considerably stronger effects on house prices, as compared to small turbines. For example, a tall turbine ( 150m) decreases house prices within 2 km by 5.4%, while a small turbine (<50m) has an effect of maximally 2% and the effect dissipates after 1 km. Further results indicate that solar farms lead to a decrease in house prices within 1 km of about 2.6%. By comparing the overall impact on house prices, we show that the external effects of solar farms per unit of energy output are comparable to those of wind turbines. Thus, building solar farms instead of wind turbines does not seem to be a way to avoid the external effects of renewable energy production.