"This is our destruction, your development": Large-scale solar PV and the transforming socio-ecological landscape of Jaisalmer, India

Sammanfattning

In the dual pursuit of expanding non-fossil fuel electricity capacity and becoming a ‘developed’ nation, India’s development trajectory drives the rapid expansion of large-scale solar photovoltaics (PV). In Jaisalmer, however, this expansion encounters complex socio-ecological landscapes marked by questions of (in)justice and uneven development. Drawing on energy geographies and energy justice, this thesis employs a mixed-methods approach involving interviews, official statistics, and maps to explore the changing socio-ecological landscapes across three villages – Dholiya, Keraliya, and Sanawara – and how these intersect with the expansion of large-scale solar PV. This spatially centred analysis reveals a reconfigured landscape characterised by differentiated socio-ecological impacts of solar PV expansion and highlights how large-scale energy transitions actively reproduce uneven geographies of development and energy injustice in India. This thesis concludes by questioning which livelihood practices and rural futures are supported and which are rendered marginal in India’s pursuit of low-carbon development.