The development of solar farms in the PACA region in the South of France has generated contrasting reactions (indifference, support, or opposition) amongst local actors. This article aims to explain the reasons for such differences in the reception of these renewable energy infrastructures by the local communities. To achieve this goal, it compares two projects that were introduced in very similar environments, but which eventually followed very different paths. It presents what happens before the public enquiry and the various informal adjustments the operator, the mayor, and his team put in place. These adjustments can be conceptualized as a “social investigation” exercise that the project managers conducted in order to prevent the conversion of the promoted technical innovation into a public problem.