Rapidly building utility-scale energy infrastructure requires not only public support but also political will across levels of government. Here we use a conjoint experiment to assess preferences for large-scale energy projects among residents and local elected officials in Pennsylvania—a key transition state with high solar potential where siting authority rests at the local level. We find that residents prefer solar to other energy projects, and job creation and cooperative community ownership are associated with increased support. Public and elected official support decreases when projects are owned by foreign companies. We find limited partisan differences in preferences, suggesting a path towards bipartisan support for such projects. Elected officials misperceive their constituents’ preferences, underestimating support for renewable energy and the importance of job creation. As local officials are key decision-makers regarding infrastructure development, their preferences and perceptions of constituents’ preferences may dictate which energy projects are approved and what community benefits they deliver.

快速建设公用事业规模的能源基础设施不仅需要公众的支持，还需要各级政府的政治意愿。在这里，我们使用联合实验来评估宾夕法尼亚州居民和当地民选官员对大型能源项目的偏好，宾夕法尼亚州是一个太阳能潜力巨大的关键过渡州，选址权由地方一级决定。我们发现，与其他能源项目相比，居民更喜欢太阳能，并且创造就业机会和合作社区所有权与增加支持有关。当项目由外国公司拥有时，公众和民选官方的支持就会减少。我们发现党派偏好差异有限，这表明了两党支持此类项目的路径。当选官员误解了选民的偏好，低估了对可再生能源的支持和创造就业机会的重要性。由于地方官员是基础设施发展的关键决策者，他们的偏好和对选民偏好的看法可能决定哪些能源项目获得批准以及它们为社区带来哪些利益。