Analyzing the Impact of Agrophotovoltaic Power Plants on the Amenity Value of Agricultural Landscape: The Case of the Republic of Korea

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Editorial Board, Dear Authors, 

The paper entitled “Analyzing the Impact of Agrophotovoltaic Power Plants on the 

Amenity Value of Agricultural Landscape” aims to study attempts to examine the public perception of agricultural landscape and the agrophotovoltaic power projects. It also analyzes the impact of the agrophotovoltaic  power plants on the amenity value of agricultural landscape. 

 

This paper attempts to estimate the impact of the APV power plant installation on the function of agriculture creating public benefits with a particular focus on the amenity value of agricultural landscape. 

This article raises a very important issue related to one side of unconventional energy production, which is agricultural crops in parallel with the generation of energy by solar panels under the Renewable Energy Development Policy. On the other side, it points out the reduction in the value of agricultural landscape when a solar collector is installed and solar panels are installed on arable land and agricultural products are grown on the land under the panel.   

 

The authors, who designed this study, conducted a survey on the public awareness on the agricultural landscape and APVs which was employed following the paired comparison choice experiment method. 

The study consisted of three sections: 

Second Section: explains the methodological framework including survey designs and the analytic model. Spatial feature, Land use classification 

Third Section: presents the results of the analyses, and Section 4 concludes with a summary of key findings and some policy implications.  

 

After reading the paper, I have comments and suggestions to improve the paper as follows: 

• The title should state which country the article is about.  
• Introduction- there is a lack of thorough introduction to the research problem based on world literature. No reference to other areas in the world with similar conflicts. This study is pioneering with respect to Korea. However, the journal Sustainablity has a global character and the research problem of the article should not only concern regional problems.   

•  Methodological Framework - this section is presented correctly. However, there is no information on how much of the agricultural land is covered by solar panels in Seoul Korea?  
• The Results were presented and described in a very good manner and are very interesting. They contribute to the value of this paper. No changes are required. 
• There is no Discussion. In the Discussion Section, the authors should discuss and explain the findings and results of the paper more. It also important to describe the results of the paper in greater detail in this section. This would contribute to a high improvement of this paper. The authors should compare their project and results with results from similar conducted research on this topic from other parts of Asia and all around the world. The authors should enrich the paper with such studies in the Introduction section. 
• Authors should pay more attention to the added value of the manusccript. 
• The Figures need sources. 

• I find the manuscript interesting and the authors presented its aims simply and clear. 

Furthermore, I strongly recommend, to revise and check the language, grammar and spelling in the paper.  

All in all, I strongly recommend this paper for publication in the Journal “Sustainability” after major changes. 

Kind regards, 

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The study employs a choice model to explore the impact of agrophotovoltaic power plants on the amenity value of agricultural landscapes. The paper is well structured with a straightforward language and elements of innovation offering some interesting results for policy makers. Few points require further clarifications for the paper to reach the quality standards of the journal, as follows.

1. More literature (if any) is required in the introductory section regarding the use of these plants in agricultural landscapes. This will help compare your results with extant studies.
2. Reduce or merge the table to the necessary ones as it would make the text more clear and concise.
3. The last section could be renamed as Discussion, and can be further enriched with comparison with previous studies on the subject (if any).
4. Write on paragraph as Conclusion, in which the purpose and innovation of the study should be mentioned, along with the key results in brief.

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf