ACTAGEOGRAPHICA GEOGRAFSKI ZBORNIK SLOVENICA 2019 59 1 ACTA GEOGRAPHICA SLOVENICA GEOGRAFSKI ZBORNIK 59-1 • 2019 Contents Maja KOCJANČIČ, Tomislav POPIT, Timotej VERBOVŠEK Gravitational sliding of the carbonate megablocks in the Vipava Valley, SW Slovenia 7 Małgorzata KIJOWSKA-STRUGAŁA, Anna BUCAŁA-HRABIA Flood types in a mountain catchment: the Ochotnica River, Poland 23 Irena MOCANU, Bianca MITRICĂ, Mihaela PERSU Socio-economicimpactofphotovoltaicpark:TheGiurgiucountyruralarea,Romania 37 Andrej GOSAR The size of the area affected by earthquake induced rockfalls: Comparison of the1998 Krn Mountains (NW Slovenia) earthquake (Mw 5.6) with worldwide data 51 Matej GABROVEC, Peter KUMER Land-use changes in Slovenia from the Franciscean Cadaster until today 63 Mojca FOŠKI Using the parcel shape index to determine arable land division types 83 Mateja FERK, Matej LIPAR, Andrej ŠMUC, Russell N. DRySDALE, Jian ZHAO Chronology of heterogeneous deposits in the side entrance of Postojna Cave, Slovenia 103 Special issue – Green creative environments Jani KOZINA, Saša POLJAK ISTENIČ, Blaž KOMAC Green creative environments: Contribution to sustainable urban and regional development 119 Saša POLJAK ISTENIČ Participatory urbanism: creative interventions for sustainable development 127 Jani KOZINA, Nick CLIFTON City-region or urban-rural framework: what matters more in understandingthe residential location of the creative class? 141 Matjaž URŠIČ, Kazushi TAMANO The importance of green amenities for small creative actors in Tokyo: Comparing natural and sociocultural spatial attraction characteristics 159 ISSN 1581-6613 9 771581 661010 ACTA GEOGRAPHICA SLOVENICA 2019 ISSN: 1581-6613 COBISS: 124775936 UDC/UDK: 91© 2019, ZRC SAZU, Geografski inštitut Antona Melika Internationaleditorialboard/mednarodniuredniškiodbor: DavidBole(Slovenia),MichaelBründl(Switzerland),RokCiglič(Slovenia), Matej Gabrovec (Slovenia), Matjaž Geršič (Slovenia), Peter Jordan (Austria), Drago Kladnik (Slovenia), BlažKomac (Slovenia), Andrej Kranjc (Slovenia), Dénes Lóczy (Hungary), Simon McCharty (United Kingdom), SlobodanMarković (Serbia), Janez Nared (Slovenia), Drago Perko (Slovenia), Marjan Ravbar (Slovenia), Nika Razpotnik Visković(Slovenia), Aleš Smrekar (Slovenia), Annett Steinführer (Germany), Mimi Urbanc (Slovenia), Matija Zorn (Slovenia) Editor-in-Chief/glavni urednik: Blaž Komac; blaz@zrc-sazu.si Executive editor/odgovorni urednik: Drago Perko; drago@zrc-sazu.si Chief editor for physical geography/glavni urednik za fizično geografijo: Matija Zorn; matija.zorn@zrc-sazu.siChief editor for human geography/glavna urednica za humano geografijo: Mimi Urbanc; mimi@zrc-sazu.si Chief editor for regional geography/glavni urednik za regionalno geografijo: Drago Kladnik; drago.kladnik@zrc-sazu.si Chief editor for spatial planning/glavni urednik za regionalno planiranje: Janez Nared; janez.nared@zrc-sazu.si Chiefeditorforruralgeography/glavnaurednicazageografijopodeželja:NikaRazpotnikVisković;nika.razpotnik@zrc-sazu.si Chief editor for urban geography/glavni urednik za urbano geografijo: David Bole; david.bole@zrc-sazu.si Chief editor for geographic information systems/glavni urednik za geografske informacijske sisteme: Rok Ciglič; rok.ciglic@zrc-sazu.siChief editor for environmental protection/glavni urednik za varstvo okolja: Aleš Smrekar; ales.smrekar@zrc-sazu.si Editorial assistant/uredniški pomočnik: Matjaž Geršič; matjaz.gersic@zrc-sazu.si Issued by/izdajatelj: Geografski inštitut Antona Melika ZRC SAZUPublished by/založnik: Založba ZRC Co-published by/sozaložnik: Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti Address/Naslov: Geografski inštitut Antona Melika ZRC SAZU, Gosposka ulica 13, SI – 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija The papers are available on-line/prispevki so dostopni na medmrežju: http://ags.zrc-sazu.si (ISSN: 1581–8314) Ordering/naročanje: Založba ZRC, Novi trg 2, p. p. 306, SI – 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenija; zalozba@zrc-sazu.si Annual subscription/letna naročnina: 20 € for individuals/za posameznike, 28 € for institutions/za ustanove. Single issue/cena posamezne številke: 12,50 € for individuals/za posameznike, 16 € for institutions/za ustanove. Cartography/kartografija: Geografski inštitut Antona Melika ZRC SAZU Translations/prevodi: DEKS, d. o. o. DTP/prelom: SYNCOMP, d. o. o. Printed by/tiskarna: Tiskarna Present, d. o. o. Print run/naklada: 350 copies/izvodov The journal is subsidized by the Slovenian Research Agency and is issued in the framework of the Geography of Slovenia coreresearchprogramme(P6-0101)/revijaizhajaspodporoJavneagencijezaraziskovalnodejavnostRepublikeSlovenijein nastajav okviru raziskovalnega programa Geografija Slovenije (P6-0101). The journal is indexed also in/revija je vključena tudi v: SCIE – Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus, JCR – Journal Citation Report/Science Edition, ERIH PLUS, GEOBASE Journals, Current geographical publications, EBSCOhost,Geoscience e-Journals, Georef, FRANCIS, SJR (SCImago Journal & Country Rank), OCLC WorldCat, Google scholar,and CrossRef. Oblikovanje/Design by: Matjaž Vipotnik. Front cover photography: Stone bridge over the Rak River on the outskirts of the Rakov Škocjan polje, which is otherwiseknown for its beautiful natural bridges (photograph: Matej Lipar).Fotografija na naslovnici: Kamniti most čez reko Rak na obrobju kraškega polja Rakov Škocjan, ki je sicer bolj znano počudovitih naravnih mostovih (fotografija: Matej Lipar). SOCIO-ECONOMICIMPACTOF PHOTOVOLTAICPARK:THEGIURGIU COUNTYRURALAREA,ROMANIA Irena Mocanu, Bianca Mitrică, Mihaela Persu Photovoltaic parks at Stăneşti. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.4261 UDC: 911.373:621.311.243(498) COBISS: 1.01 Socio-economic impact of photovoltaic park: The Giurgiu County rural area, Romania ABSTRACT:Thepaperaimstoanalysethesocio-economicterritorialimpactofphotovoltaicparksinthe rural area of Giurgiu County. The analysis valorises two types of data: the statistical information on the localsocio-economicfeaturesprovidedbytheNationalInstituteofStatisticsandtheGiurgiuCountyStatistics Office,andthespecificinformationaboutthephotovoltaicparksrevealedbytheinterviewsappliedtothe localauthoritiesduringfieldinvestigation. The case-studiesdiscussedinthis paper reflectthe socio-eco­nomiceffectsofbuildingandoperatingthesixphotovoltaicparksasinthethreerurallocaladministrative units–LAU2:Izvoarele,StăneştiandMalu.Thisstudyemphasizesfourtypesofthesocio-economiceffects ofinvestmentinaphotovoltaicprojecton:localruraleconomy,landusechanges,localinvestments,bud­get and local labour market. KEY WORDS: geography, solar park, land use, regional development, rural space, Romania Socialnoekonomski vpliv fotovoltaičnega parka: podeželsko območje Giurgiu v Romuniji POVZETEK: V člankuavtoriceanalizirajo socialnoekonomski teritorialnivplivfotovoltaičnihparkovna podeželskem območju okrožja Giurgiu. Pri analizi so ocenjevale dve vrsti podatkov: statistične podatke olokalnihsocialnoekonomskihznačilnostih,kisojihpridobilenanacionalnemstatističnemuraduinsta­tističnem uradu okrožja Giurgiu, ter podatke o fotovoltaičnih parkih, ki so jih med terensko raziskavo pridobilevintervjujihzlokalnimioblastmi.Predstavljeneštudijeprimeraizražajosocialnoekonomskevplive gradnjeinupravljanjašestihfotovoltaičnihparkovvtrehlokalnihupravnihenotah(LUE2):Izvoarele,Stanešti inMalu.Izsledkiraziskavesorazkrilištirirazličnevrstesocialnoekonomskihvplivovnaložbvfotovoltaične projekte,insicervplivenalokalnopodeželskogospodarstvo,spremembevrabital,lokalnenaložbe,proračun ter lokalni trg dela. KLJUČNE BESEDE: geografija, solarni park, raba tal, regionalni razvoj, podeželje, Romunija Irena Mocanu, Bianca Mitrică, Mihaela Persu The Romanian Academy, Institute of Geography, Human Geography Department mocanitai@yahoo.com, biancadumitrescu78@yahoo.com, persu_mihaela@yahoo.com The paper was submitted for publication on 18th August 2015. Uredništvo je prejelo prispevek 18. avgusta 2015. 1 Introduction Thelow-carbonenergytransition,along-termstructuralchangeinenergysystem(Hauffet al.2014),rep­resents a geographical process (Bridge et al. 2013) which implies the reconfiguration of current patterns and scales of economic and social activity (Smil 2003). Geography offers the concepts which allow us to assesstheterritorialimpactsofenergytransition,suchasthelocation,theterritoriality,theunequaldevel­opment, and the scale/level concept (Bridge 2011). The territorial impact of renewable energy, including photovoltaicenergy,isoneofthemanytopicsemergingfromthenewgeographyofenergy(Zimmerer2011) beinglinkedwithotherconceptssuchasenergylandscape(NadaiandVanderHorst2010;Pasqualetti2012), and brightfield (Kunc, Frantál and Klusáček 2011; Kunc et al. 2014). Photovoltaic (PV) parks are »large-scale photovoltaic systems designed to supply merchant power to the electricity grid« (Wolfe 2012, 994). RomaniaisanideallocationfortheinstallationofthePVsystems(Oprea2008;Pavlíček2012;Paulescu et al.2013),themostcommonbeingphotovoltaicparksandsolarthermalsystems.Productionofrenew­ableenergyaffectstheenvironmentandinvolvestheuseoflandresources(Sliz-Szkliniarz2013);also,the development of any type of energy project generates direct and indirect effects on the demand of goods and services as well as employment generation (Caldes, Santamaria and Sáez 2009). Recent worldwide investigations on the socio-economic impacts of solar park implantation refer to: • socialimpactsofphotovoltaicparksonruraldevelopment(Mezei2008;Pelinetal.2014;Frantáletal.2014); • expansion of residential photovoltaic systems (Fekete, Klaić and Majdandžić 2012) and • public acceptance of renewable energies (Zoellner, Schweizer-Ries and Wemheuer 2008). Kontogianni, Tourkolias and Skourtos (2013) and Gaigalis et al. (2014) bring into question the mas­sive deployment of renewable energy sources from the perspective of the local economy and the local communities.Sliz-Szkliniarz(2013)focusedthescientificinterestontheriskslinkedtotheuseofaninten­sifiedrenewableenergysourceuse,whichshouldbeadequatelytakeninto considerationinanyplanning ofruralareas.Theconceptofmulti-functionalityoftheruralspacereliesontherecognitionthatagriculture, in addition to producing food, also produces non-market goods and services, shapes the environment, affects social and cultural systems, biodiversity conservation and contributes to economic growth (Van HuylenbroekandDurand2003,cv.Wilson2010;VanHuylenbroeket al.2007,cv:KnificandBojnec2015; Salvioni2008). Recentinvestigationintogreenjobsshowsthatthistypeofemploymentmeansfewerjobs (Lyman 2016). The fact that photovoltaic systems require little labour participation is discussed by Pelin et al. (2014). TheissueofterritorialimpactofphotovoltaicparksimplantedinRomanianruralareasrepresentssub­ject of only a few scientific works. Bănică and Istrate (2014) conclude that the jobs are less commun at manufacturingphaseofthefacilitiesandmoreinconstruction,operatingandmaintenancephases.Mocanu et al. (2015) hilight loss of farmland as a negative effects of solar park setting up in rural space in terms oflandusechanges. Pavlíček (2012)analysed marketsofsome Europeancontriesand concludedthatthe Romanian slow market development is causedby weak education on thephotovoltaic technologyand by slow bureaucracy in the subsidies system from the EU. Given this picture, this study concentrates on specific research question: Do photovoltaic parks set-tingupcontributetothesocio-economicdevelopmentincertainRomanianruralareas?Thisstudyattempts to enlarge the current body of literature by analysing at micro-scale the socio-economic impacts of pho-tovoltaicparkssettingup,specificallyinthreerurallocaladministrativeunits(LAU2):Izvoarele,Maluand Stăneşti(GiurgiuCounty).InordertoestimatesuchimpactsinRomanianruralspace,fourtypesofsocio-economic impacts were considered: the rural economic profile before and after the implantation of photovoltaicparks,land-useandland-coverchanges,theeffectsofinvestmentsinthephotovoltaicindus-try on the local budget, the real new job opportunities. 1.1 Study area GiurgiuCountyislocatedintheRomanianPlain,alsoknownastheLowerDanubePlain(Bălteanuetal.2006) (Figure 1). Figure 1: Geographical setting of the study area in Romania. p p. 40 ©2016,RomanianAcademy,Institue ofGeography The Giurgiu County includes 3 towns: Giurgiu City (county-seat, an urban pole with regional devel­opment potential), Bolintin Vale and Mihăileşti, two urban poles with local influence (Giurgiu County Council 2014). Within the Giurgiu County administrative bonds one finds 51 rural LAU2 with 167 vil­lages (Giurgiu County Statistics Office 2012) with low and very low socio-economic development levels (Mocanuet al.2015).Overthepastdecade(2002–2012)thecounty’spopulationfellby16,437inhabitants (–6%) because of high population ageing, the ageing process increasing the economic dependency rate andinactivityratevalues(Kerbler2015).Iordan(1973;1998),Gherasim(2003),Ianoş(1999),Săgeată(2004) andIanoşet al.(2012)showthat,intermsofadministrativecharacteristics,thecase-studiesreportedhere-in are rural areas, although functionally they are located in the peri-urban area of Giurgiu Municipality, inside the Bucharest Metropolitan Area. In turn, this territory is characterised by the alternating coun­trysidewith anewemerging urbanlandscapefoundedintheformervillages surroundingBucharest City (Mihai, Nistor and Simion 2015). 2 Key driving factors Key driving factors of the photovoltaic energy industry in Romania and in Giurgiu County are: • High annual average sunshine duration – the Giurgiu County receives over 2,100–2,200 hours of annual averagesunshineduration(Oprea2008).ThemostimportantsolarregionsinRomaniaaretheBlackSea Coast,DobrogeaandtheSouthoftheRomanianPlain,withglobalhorizontalirradiationof1,400kWh/m2 (Paulescu et al. 2013). • The EU commitments represent the main background for the photovoltaic energy industry to develop inRomania.InthisrespecttheGiurgiuCountyCouncilelaboratedtwoimportantstrategicdocuments: The2008–2013SustainableDevelopmentStrategyandThe2010–2020ActionPlanforSustainableEnergy (Giurgiu County Council 2014). • The national legislation on renewable energy production (Legea…2008) establishing the system that promotesenergyfromrenewablesources,wasmodifiedmanytimes.Despitecontinuouslegislativechanges, theRomanianrenewableenergysectorhadattractedinvestmentsof3billionEurountil2013(Câmpeanu andPencea2014).Beginningwith2014,thelegislationintendedtoreducethenumberofgreencertificates accredited to photovoltaic energy producers, the investors not being eligible to the support scheme if thephotovoltaicparkislocatedoncultivableagriculturalland(EmergencyGovernmentOrdinance2013). InGiurgiuCounty(Băneasamunicipality),thislegalprovisionwasoneofthemainreasonsforthefirst case of insolvency of photovoltaic industry producers. • The economic-financial crisis made it difficult for the renewable energy industry to implement the EU provisions, because the generous subsidiaries earmarked to the photovoltaic industry were reduced, as amorestringentbudgetarydisciplinewasbeingimposed(Ghani-EnelandandChawla2009).Thetrade conflictsbetweenChinaandtheEUmultipliedthenegativeimpactofthefinancial-economiccrisisand the photovoltaic projects became unprofitable (Zhao et al. 2011; Berger et al. 2012). These driving forces act in a very complex way, distinctively different at local, national, EU and non-EU levels (Figure 2). 3 Methods To achieve the aims of this study both qualitative and quantitative methods were used (e.g. field inves­tigation, official public statistical documents analysis and interviews (Chelcea 2006; Şandor 2011). The multi-functionality of economy, the issues related to land use and land cover changes and the effects of initial investment in photovoltaic parks on the local budgets were accomplished by using the following indicators: number of photovoltaic energy producers, percentage of farmland covered with photovoltaic parks per total agricultural surface, obtained by an unobtrusive research method, studying official pub-licdocumentsandstatisticaldocuments(Babbie1998;MarshallandGretchen2016).Thesourcesofthese Figure 2: The economic, financial and legislative background of the solar energy industry and the socio-economic changes at local territorial level in Romania. p p. 42 official documents were county and local institutions (Giurgiu County Statistics Office, Giurgiu County Environment ProtectionAgency, andmayoralties) andnationalinstitutions, suchasNationalInstituteof Statistics and the National Regulatory Authority for Energy. Also, it was used the Intelligent decision sup­portsystemforthelowvoltagegridwithdistributedpowergenerationfromrenewableenergyresources–InDeSen Project database (Intelligent decision…2012). The official and statistical data were completed with the results of field investigation in the rural settlements of Stăneşti, Malu and Izvoarele. The interviews were conducted with a total of 30 persons from the three mayoralties during summer 2014. The interviews focused on four issues: land-use and land-cover changes, new jobs, consequences for the local budget (types of taxes) and the community’s perception. 4 Results Fieldinvestigationhasshownthemainsocio-economiceffectsofphotovoltaicparkimplantationinarural area, namely: • new investments in local economy; • loss of farmland; • growth of local budgets; • new job opportunities. 4.1 New investments in local economy InGiurgiuCounty, since2012newinvestments inthephotovoltaic energyindustryhavediversifiedthe county’s economic profile and have increased the number of companies involved in this field (National Regulatory…2014).AccordingtothedataprovidedbyNationalRegulatoryAuthorityforEnergy(National Regulatory…2014) and the InDeSen Project database (Intelligent decision… 2012), there are 25 pho­tovoltaic energy producers in Giurgiu County which are operating in 19 rural LAU2 and in Giurgiu Municipality. ThelargestphotovoltaicparksweresettingupinBucşani,Colibaşi,IzvoareleandBulbucataruralLAU2. In2012,theAltiusPhotovoltaicCompany(BomaxGroup)beganproducingphotovoltaicpanelsinGiurgiu Free Zone area, following an investment of 8 million Euros. It is the only manufacturer of photovoltaic panelsinRomania.TheCompanydoubleditsproductioncapacityto220,000–230,000panels/yearin2014 (Altius…2016) (Figure 3). Table 1: The main characteristics of the six photovoltaic parks at Izvoarele, Malu and Stăneşti (Giurgiu County Agency…2014). Investor Location Station of connection Installed power (MW) Distribution company Surface (ha) S.C. BORRA ENERGY Izvoarele Ghizdaru 110/20 kV 30 Enel Distributie Muntenia 72 PLANT SRL S.C. LJG GREEN SOURCE Izvoarele Ghizdaru-Videle 110kV 20 Enel Distributie Muntenia 48 ENERGY BETE SRL S.C. LJG GREEN SOURCE Izvoarele Ghizdaru-Videle 110 kV 50 Enel Distributie Muntenia 120 ENERGY GAMMA SRL S.C. ECO TRADING Malu Pietrişu 110/20 kV 4 Enel Distributie Muntenia 9.6 ENERGY SRL S.C. LONG BRIDGE Stăneşti Ghizdaru 110/20 kV 7.5 Transelectrica 18 MILENIUM SRL S.C. MONTANA Stăneşti Ghizdaru 110/20 kV 5.5 Enel Distributie Muntenia 13.2 ENERGY ROM SRL 4.2 Loss of farmland In the Giurgiu County, agricultural land is the main land-use category (75–90% of total land fund). In terms of land use and land cover, the photovoltaic parks studied lay on very valuable arable land (Bălteanuetal.2006),thethreephotovoltaicparksatIzvoareleoccupy240haoffarmlandwithalmost470,000 solarpanels.Comparedwiththeselargephotovoltaicparks,thetwoparksatStăneşticoverwithphotovoltaic Figure 3: Photovoltaic energy producers in Giurgiu County. panelsonly30hafarmland;thephotovoltaicparkatMaluisbuilton9.6haofnon-agriculturalland(19,000 solarpanels)(Mocanu,MitricăandPersu2015).Ourfieldinvestigationrevealedthatfarmlandareasused fortheconstructionofphotovoltaicparkswereboughtfromlocalfarmers(Izvoarele)atpricesof2,000€/ha, and 1,300€/ha (Stăneşti), or conceded for 500€/ha/year (Izvoarele). Lossoffarmlandcanbedescribedbythepercentageoffarmlandcoveredwithphotovoltaicparksper totalagriculturalsurface,thehighestlossesbeing registered at Colibaşi(13.08%). In ourcase-study,pho­tovoltaic parks occupy small farmland at Stăneşti (0.47%) and Izvoarele (2.16%), while the photovoltaic parkatMaluextendsonnon-farmingland.Asrevealedbythefieldinvestigation,inIzvoareleandStăneşti, the main land cover category changed by the construction of photovoltaic parks is represented by culti­vated areasregularly ploughed and generally undera rotation system (Mocanu, Mitrică andPersu 2015). 4.3 Growth of local budgets Fieldinvestigationshaveshownpositiveimpactofinitialphotovoltaicparksinvestmentsonthelocalbud­gets.InterviewingthelocalauthoritiesfromIzvoarele,StăneştiandMaluwefoundthatthetaxesperceived bythemayoraltiestargetthelandconcessionforthesettingupofphotovoltaicparks,thelandsaletoinvestors for setting up solar projects, the building licenses, tax on land, tax on special buildings and a special tax ontheinstalledoperationpowerofeachsolarproject(Figure4).Thistypeofrevenuehadapositiveimpact only if consistently paid annually during the lifetime of a photovoltaic park. 4.4 New job opportunities – a disputable socio-economic impact Investment in a photovoltaic project stimulates new temporary and permanent jobs, directly connected withthebuildingandoperationofasolarparkandindirectlywithothereconomicactivitiesproducedby the initial investment (Figure 5). Figure 4: Local investments in solar/photovoltaic parks and the surplus to local budgets. Figure 5: Local investments in photovoltaic parks and new job opportunities. Fieldinvestigationsrevealedthatmostnewjobshadonlyatemporarycharacter(duringtheconstruction of solar parks), most lower-and medium-skill jobs being occupied by local community members. Thus, fortheconstructionofphotovoltaicparksatIzvoareletheyemployed50workersforaperiodof12–18months (dependingonthespatialexpansionofthepark),thebuildingoftheMaluphotovoltaicparkprovidedjobs for 20 workers over an eight-month interval. Permanent jobs are scheduled for the maintenance of park grounds (mowing the lawn and up-keep-ingtheroad),ofphotovoltaicpanelsandtheentirespecificinfrastructure,aswellasguardsforparkprotection. Atlocallevel,theimpactonlabouremploymentisinsignificant(2.6%workersemployedfortheconstruction ofphotovoltaicparksoutatotalof1,903employedinIzvoarele),morepeoplegettingjobs(usuallyunskilled labour)whenthesiteisarrangedformountingthephotovoltaicpanelsandtheinfrastructureisdeveloped. Onlyafewguardsareemployedwhenthephotovoltaicparkisoperating.Thefirmsentrustedtheadminis­trationofphotovoltaicparksatIzvoareleandMaluaretheclientsoftheRenovatioAssestManagement firm in Bucharest, therefore the impact on local employment is nil. 5 Disscussion Both,theauthoritiesandthepopulationwerecontentwiththeconstructionofthephotovoltaicparkswhich brought benefits to the local budget and provided jobs for the locals. ThebigphotovoltaicprojectsinGiurgiuCountyhaddisputablepositiveimpactonruraldevelopment. Ashort-timepositiveimpactisvisibleonlyinthecaseoflow-andmedium-skilledworkers,andalsoapos­ itive effect is marked only when, and if, taxes and duties are collected. Atthelocallevel,positiveimpactontheeconomyofphotovoltaicparkimplantationisstronglyunder­linedbythelocalauthorities,andthelocals’generalopiniononsolarparkisaverygoodone.Localeconomy hasamulti-functionalcharacteronlyfromtwoviewpoints:firstly,photovoltaicenergyactorshavejoined the economic agents in agriculture and secondly, some farmland has been given other uses, than agricul­tural. This last aspect of multi-functionality is not necessarily a positive one. The surplus to local budgets is used to finance several investment projects, e.g. updating some com­munal roads, equipping and modernising the school and finalising the network of water supply to the households of Radu Vodă Village (Izvoarele). According to Malu Mayoralty, the photovoltaic park pro­vides for the energy consumption of the school, the House of Culture and for public lighting. Amongnegativeeffectsofsolarprojectsettingupintheruralarea(ofwhicharementionedbyCameron et al. 2012 the temperature and rainfall distribution changes and the damage of biodiversity and soil), we would recall the loss of farmland. This issue was mentioned as a negative effect of solar parks setting up byHernandez,HoandField(2014)and Hernandezet al. (2015). Thephotovoltaic parksinIzvoareleand Stăneşticoveralmost271 hafarmland,butthisnegativeeffectwasnotmentioned by thelocalauthorities simply because this impact was not being perceived. According to the officials of the National Regulatory Authority for Energy, the lack of co-ordination between renewable energy deployment and the national grid (due to oversized photovoltaic projects) is quite a problem. However, the local authorities interviewed by us did not mention the surplus of renew­able energy resources registered by the rural areas in which solar parks are places. Thephotovoltaicparksstudiedarenotfunctionallyintegratedintothelocalcommunities(according to OECD 2012), because their scale did not reflect localopportunities and the parks arenot conceived to serve local demand; moreover do not reflect the local socio-economic and are not managed by the local networks either. Field investigations revealed that the local communities are not aware of the negative implications of photovoltaicparksfor the environmentandtheirunintendedclimatic consequences, so thatthefastgoing development of photovoltaic projects takes advantage of people’s ignorance, the of investors’s short-term goal being to profit from the legal facilities provided by an investment in the renewable energy industry. 6 Conclusion Despitethedynamicsofrenewableindustryandtechnology,wenoticedthatbuildingaphotovoltaicpark hasbothnegativeandpositiveeffectsinaruralarea,beinginfluenced(evenconditioned)bythelocalcon-text. Field investigations have shownthattaxes have apositive impact on the local budgets providedthey arepaidannuallyduringthelifetimeofaphotovoltaicpark.Regardingthenewjobopportunities,thepos­itiveimpactisdisputablebecausemostnewjobsaretemporaryandonlylower-and-mediumskilljobsare occupiedbylocalcommunitymembers.Intermsoflanduseandlandcover,thephotovoltaicparksstudied are located on very valuable arable land. Loss of farm-land is very much present in the three case-studies discussed in this paper, obviously a negative effect of solar project implantations in the rural area. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The research for this paper was conducted in the framework of research plan oftheInstituteofGeographyofthetheRomanianAcadem(»TheGeographicStudyoftheRomanianDanube Valley« and »National Geographical Atlas«). The authors contributed equally to the paper. 7 References Altius Photovoltaic Company. Internet: http://www.altiusfotovoltaic.ro (15.6.2016). Babbie, E. R. 1998: The practice of social research. 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