HONESTY is not just the best policy for Neoen, the renewable energy company that wants to build a solar farm at Eglinton, it has to be the only policy.
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To win over a city in which a segment of the population is, rightly or wrongly, always going to be sceptical of renewable energy projects such as this, Neoen is going to have to be prepared to answer all the questions put to it - and, in some cases, the same questions again and again.
That's the price of admission if you're going to bring something of the scale of the 200 megawatt Eglinton project to a city that hasn't seen it before.
And on that measure, Neoen has made a good start.
Reports from the company's recent community session at Eglinton have been positive and the Advocate found Neoen's head of development, Garth Heron, prepared to answer all the questions that were put to him.
That included many of the criticisms from social media: that Bathurst is too foggy in winter for a solar project to be viable; that it will ruin productive farmland; and that the solar panels themselves only have a short life.
Mr Heron, in reply, said the "solar resource" in Bathurst is excellent; sheep will be able to graze under the panels if the landowner wants to do so; and the panels will have a 30-year minimum life.
He also pointed to the fact Neoen has been prepared to hold an information session at the very earliest stage of the project - before a design has been done or development application created - as evidence that the company is committed to being open with the community.
There are many more steps and, presumably, a few more arguments to come, but it does seem as if Neoen is making the right moves so far.
There will be some who will never be won over by a solar farm in this area - whether small or large, on the north side of the city or the south, visible or non-visible. And there will be others who will be enthusiastic about such a project no matter the details.
It's the third group, though, the ones who haven't got a firm opinion either way, that is of most importance for Neoen.
That group, like the solar panels themselves, will react most favourably when everything is bright and clear.
We'll be watching for the next update from Neoen, whenever that is, with interest.
