The sun is setting on solar energy in Orange County. Over the course of the past year, the county’s board of supervisors has shot down multiple attempts to bring renewable energy installations to the area. After two community solar farms had their requests for special use permits handily denied — just a few days apart — only one application remained. Dubbed Sunfish Solar by California-based developer BayWa r.e., it was the largest proposal the board would hear: an 80-megawatt, 1,000-acre project on land just east of U.S. 522 near the border of Orange and Culpeper counties. No matter its size, it met the same fate as its predecessors...After listening to remarks from more than a dozen residents — the majority of whom voiced vehement opposition to the solar project — Hale and her colleagues unanimously voted that Sunfish Solar was not in accord with the county’s Comprehensive Plan and BayWa r.e. would be denied its special use permit.

A controversial proposal to build a battery energy storage system near the historic Ironbridge Gorge has been refused. Lower Coalmoor BESS Ltd wanted the facility on land off Buildwas Bank in Coalbrookdale. Plans for the site also included an access track, CCTV and light poles, car parking spaces, perimeter fencing and gates, and associated infrastructure.

"A wind farm project in the southern Scotland which has been rejected three times is seeking approval on appeal. Scottish Borders Council (SBC) first turned down the Wull Muir scheme near Heriot in 2020 and an appeal to the Scottish government was also unsuccessful. Revised plans were refused again by the local authority in July this year. Developers Energiekontor are now seeking to overturn that decision and have taken an appeal to the Scottish government once more.The eight-turbine project was first rejected more than four years ago due to its ""unacceptable significant adverse impacts on the landscape"". An appeal to reverse that decision was then turned down as well. That prompted revised plans to be brought to SBC which suggested moving the turbines and increasing them in size."

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors reviewed numerous amendments during the second reading of the revised ordinance regulating the construction of wind turbines in Floyd County. Supervisor Jim Jorgensen introduced many of the amendments during the August 6th public hearing on the ordinance, including his most controversial amendment: limiting the number of wind turbines in the County to 70 total, including 50 already operated by MidAmerican Energy.

Nashville-based Silicon Ranch offered a nearly $300 million investment with a proposed 4,700-acre solar farm in Kathleen, but that didn’t sway Houston County commissioners. Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday against a special use permit for the solar farm in line with public outcry from naturalists and the community. The property is next to the 13,300-acre Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area, which is home to a small population of about 300 black bears. The bears roam a larger territory of over 50,000 acres, including where female bears are known to den on the proposed solar farm property. The vote came after a nearly two-hour public hearing in a crowded room used mostly for jury selection in the Houston County Courthouse in Perry...The sole person to speak in favor of the solar farm was Matt Beasley, chief commercial officer for Silicon Ranch.

As the sun sets on more than 1,000 acres of land in Madison, Indiana, there's also the sunsetting of a controversy over a proposed solar farm. "Having to face hearing bulldozers come in and strip everything, all the trees," neighbor Paula Weatherbee said. Aypa Power had hoped to build a solar farm along West Deputy Pike Road, where Paula and her husband Steve live...Nearly two months later the Madison City Council voted against the solar farm by refusing to allow a zoning change on the farm land...The rezoning vote failed 4-3. Most residents at the meeting were pleased with the council's vote. Ericka Wilson acknowledged the sense of community and civic government over the past two months. "What we saw tonight is what happens when people come together, tell their government how they feel and do their homework and show up and are engaged in the political process," said Wilson.

Licking County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Thursday prohibiting development of large-scale solar and wind projects in five townships that requested the ban. The resolution is scheduled to take effect 30 days from Thursday. It establishes exclusionary zones restricting construction of “large wind and solar facilities” within Hanover, Licking, St. Albans, Union and Washington townships. Last week, residents and officials from those townships told commissioners at a public hearing that they wanted to ban solar and wind developments and preserve farmland in those areas. No one spoke against the bans at the hearing. The commissioners’ unanimous vote came after approving exclusionary zones for Liberty and Etna townships earlier this year.

Licking County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Thursday prohibiting development of large-scale solar and wind projects in five townships that requested the ban. The resolution is scheduled to take effect 30 days from Thursday. It establishes exclusionary zones restricting construction of “large wind and solar facilities” within Hanover, Licking, St. Albans, Union and Washington townships. Last week, residents and officials from those townships told commissioners at a public hearing that they wanted to ban solar and wind developments and preserve farmland in those areas. No one spoke against the bans at the hearing. The commissioners’ unanimous vote came after approving exclusionary zones for Liberty and Etna townships earlier this year.

Licking County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Thursday prohibiting development of large-scale solar and wind projects in five townships that requested the ban. The resolution is scheduled to take effect 30 days from Thursday. It establishes exclusionary zones restricting construction of “large wind and solar facilities” within Hanover, Licking, St. Albans, Union and Washington townships. Last week, residents and officials from those townships told commissioners at a public hearing that they wanted to ban solar and wind developments and preserve farmland in those areas. No one spoke against the bans at the hearing. The commissioners’ unanimous vote came after approving exclusionary zones for Liberty and Etna townships earlier this year. The resolution for five townships, excluding Etna and Liberty, is available here: https://apps.lickingcounty.gov/commissioners/resolutions/124/124-76.pdf Resolution 124-76 was adopted unanimously, 3-0, on August 29, 2024. It reads: "This Board hereby establishes exclusionary zones restricting the construction of “large wind farms” and “large solar facilities” as those phrases are defined in Revised Code Sections 303.57 and 4906.01, said zones to include all parcels of real property within the unincorporated portions of Hanover, Licking, St. Albans, Union and Washington Townships’ borders...This resolution becomes effective thirty days after the date of its adoption."

Licking County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Thursday prohibiting development of large-scale solar and wind projects in five townships that requested the ban. The resolution is scheduled to take effect 30 days from Thursday. It establishes exclusionary zones restricting construction of “large wind and solar facilities” within Hanover, Licking, St. Albans, Union and Washington townships. Last week, residents and officials from those townships told commissioners at a public hearing that they wanted to ban solar and wind developments and preserve farmland in those areas. No one spoke against the bans at the hearing. The commissioners’ unanimous vote came after approving exclusionary zones for Liberty and Etna townships earlier this year.