Solar Farms: Understanding the Issues

The growth of the solar power industry has been accompanied by the proliferation of large-scale solar farms, many of which have been constructed in rural areas. When an energy company considers a location for a new solar farm, advocates for and against the facility mobilize quickly, and often with competing claims, in hopes of gaining government, public, and business support for their side, As solar power companies eye Daviess County and the surrounding areas for expansion, local residents can expect to hear arguments about the potential envrironmental and economic impacts of solar farms.  

• Solar opponents often argue that solar farms are inefficient and potentially damaging repurposement of land that could have prime agricultural uses. A study from the United Kingdom found that a 140-acre solar farm generated less electricity than a single North Sea turbine, and while solar farms are a more efficient source of power than ethanol produced from corn, solar energy requires more land than energy from fossil fuels. Additionally, some opponents to solar farms raise concerns about the potential for water contamination and disruptions to local wildlife caused by erosion, tree removal, and fencing associated with constructing these facilities.

• Constructing a solar farm often prompts concerns about the financial impact on local residents. In 2025, a Virginia Tech study found that proximity to a large solar farm produced a 4.8% decrease in residential home values, although that impact diminished and ultimately disappeared over time. Decommissioning and removing solar facilities at the end of their lifespan can also be extremely expensive, and local governments often question whether those potential costs will be passed on to taxpayers. Although licensing agreements and state laws governing solar farm construction generally require operator guarantees of appropriate decommissioning and removal, the duration of these contracts and the potential for financial insolvency or other challenges to the operator during that time leave many local interests unconvinced that decommissioning costs will not ultimately fall to the public.

  
  

Industrial solar advocates generally come prepared with targeted rebuttals for each of the arguments against the placement of solar farms in rural areas, and weighing the relative merits of each side is up to each individual and community. Like solar opponents, advocates of solar farm construction have multiple justifications for their position, many of which attempt to directly refute any environmental and economic concerns.

• Technological advances in solar infrastructure have encouraged the development of agrivoltaics, a collection of construction methods that integrate solar energy production into ongoing agricultural uses and allow for co-located farming and solar energy activities. This type of solar construction can be more expensive than older methods and may require some adaptations of existing farm processes but can also better preserve and protect the land while diversifying income streams for landowners. Solar leases, even without allowing for ongoing agricultural uses, also offer farmers a predictable, long-term revenue stream—estimated in 2019 as between $250 and $1000 per acre annually--that can exceed the profits produced by agricultural uses alone.

  
  

• The same 2025 study that found a modest, temporary decrease in home values near solar farms also found a nearly 20% increase in nearby agricultural and vacant land values. The lead author of the study suggested local governments and developers could use their findings to site solar farms in areas that would maximize the increase in property values while minimize the negative impacts.

• Solar farm permits typically include contractual requirements for proper removal and disposal of all site equipment, as well as environmental remediation. Local governments or other permitting bodies are encouraged to incorporate contractual requirements to ensure decommissioning, including legal provisions, resources held in trust or escrow accounts, or decommissioning bonds covering the entire estimated cost of removal. In Kentucky, applications for solar farm construction submitted to the state Public Service Commission must include plans for appropriate decommissioning and site remediation, along with plans for financing that process.