Plans for a huge solar farm in Cornwall have been refused over concerns about the visual impact it would have on the landscape. Residents in Canworthy Water, near Launceston, argued building it on 200 acres next to an existing solar farm would produce the appearance of an ocean. Developers Windel insisted it would have helped the UK meet its renewable energy targets in the future. The scheme was turned down by a vote of 7-3 at a meeting of Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee. Local residents raised concerns about the loss of agricultural land from the development and claimed Cornwall was being used as a "dumping ground" for solar panels.

Plans to build a solar farm the size of 86 football fields in Kent have been rejected as "insane." Developers of the installation on "high-grade" farmland near Sittingbourne were told by a councillor the panels should instead be placed on roofs and car parks. Supporters pointed out the site - sitting either side of Vigo Lane and Wrens Road near Borden - would have provided clean energy for 11,500 homes. Developers Industria Solar said they were "disappointed" by the decision, but would review their application and consider "further steps".

Earlier this year, the Floyd County Board of Supervisors opted to bypass the recommendations of the EMS Advisory Council on an emergency medical services tax levy. Now, Supervisors have made similar moves in regards to amendments proposed by the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission on the County’s ordinance regulating the construction of wind turbines. After almost four hours wasn’t enough time to finish public comments on the issue July 29th, the Board continued the public hearing Tuesday (08.06) night at the YEC on the Floyd County Fairgrounds. After over two more hours of comments, Supervisors began the first reading of the ordinance as formulated by the P&Z. Supervisor Jim Jorgensen introduced several amendments, including increased setback distances, reduced height levels of the turbines, and limiting the number of wind turbines in the County to 70 total, including the 50 already operated by MidAmerican Energy. Tom Treharne of NextEra Energy, one of two companies looking to develop a wind farm in the Marble Rock/Rockford area, said the amendments will kill their project. Isaac Lamppa with Invenergy, which began the Chickasaw Wind Energy Center north of New Hampton last year, said their project is also highly doubtful...While several of the amendments were still in need of legal opinions from County Attorney Todd Prichard, Supervisors voted 2-1 to approve the first reading of the ordinance, with Keifer and Jorgensen voting YES and Kuhn voting NO. The amended ordinance still must pass two more readings before it can become official, with the next reading scheduled for 6:30 pm August 19th in the EOC of the Floyd County Courthouse.

The Pine Township zoning hearing board on Wednesday night pulled the plug on the construction of a solar farm in the community. Board members unanimously rejected an appeal by Sunrise Diamond Road LLC at a hearing in Pine Township’s municipal building to build a solar farm on property at 247 Diamond Road it wants to lease in the township. Pine Township’s zoning officer denied a permit for the project, in part, because the land is part of the township’s agricultural conservation district. Over 20 people crammed into the township’s small municipal building meeting room for the hearing, which clocked in at over 3 hours. An overflow crowd stood in an adjoining hallway to listen in. Those who spoke or asked questions were required to be sworn in. Sandra Dininger testified she lived adjacent to the property. “My property isn’t going to be worth diddly-squat,’’ Dininger said if the solar farm was constructed.

"A High Court judge has found that levels of noise generated at certain times of the day by a wind farm constitutes a nuisance to the occupants of neighbouring properties. In a landmark decision, which is understood to have implications for the operation of electricity-generating wind turbines, Ms Justice Emily Egan held that noise levels from the two-turbine Ballyduff Windfarm at Kilcomb, near Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, amounted to ""unreasonable interference"". The cases are the first private nuisance claim from wind turbine noise to run in either Ireland or the UK, the judge said. The first action was taken by Margret Webster and her partner Keith Rollo whose home is close to the wind farm which has been operational since 2017."

Several residents are celebrating the Connecticut Siting Council's denial of a solar farm project on Denslow Hill Road that would have wiped out about eight acres of trees...At its Aug. 1 meeting, the five-member council, which has authority over where power facilities and other types of infrastructure can go, unanimously rejected an application by Lodestar Energy to build a 1.5-megawatt solar farm on a section of undeveloped, wooded land on Denslow Hill Road. At its Aug. 1 meeting, the five-member council, which has authority over where power facilities and other types of infrastructure can go, unanimously rejected an application by Lodestar Energy to build a 1.5-megawatt solar farm on a section of undeveloped, wooded land on Denslow Hill Road. Council members cited concerns over the developer's plan to remove about 7.9 acres of trees to build the facility, as well as the project's proximity to nearby homes. Council member Brian Golembiewski said the forest clearing was an "unnecessary adverse impact," joining other members who argued the project would not be good for the environment...The project drew backlash from several residents who live on streets surrounding the project site, as well as Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett, state Sens. Jorge Cabrera, D-Hamden, and Martin Looney, D-Hamden, and state Reps. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, and Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford. Christine Schon, a Denslow Hill Road resident who spearheaded the fight against the solar farm, said Tuesday she felt "relief" after hearing the project was denied. Schon and other neighbors had worried the presence of a solar farm would have decreased the value of their homes. "Some of the houses ... are hard to sell, and if those lose a lot of value, then it pulls down the whole street," she said.

After multiple rounds of community input, the Ada County Commissioners moved to reject a proposed solar farm. Ada County Commissioners cited extensive community opposition and personal reservations in the Tuesday hearing on the fate of the solar farm. Concerns about the environment and how the farm would alter the character of the surrounding agricultural community were the principal factors influencing the rejection decision. Renewable energy company Savion had purchased agricultural land south of Kuna, between Ada and Canyon counties, with the intention of constructing a solar farm, as previously reported by the Idaho Press. Under the company’s solar farm application, Ada County would have seen 237,000 solar panels constructed on 1,419 acres, Tom Dayley, Ada County Commissioner, said....Commissioners emphasized that the move to reject the solar farm application was not a referendum on solar energy in Idaho, but rather an effort to retain the character of the farming and agricultural community in the surrounding area. “This was a tough issue because I think we do need to encourage business and encourage solar development,” Ryan Davidson, Ada County Commissioner, said. “This board is not anti-solar. We’ve approved a solar project for this very same company, but out in the desert where there are not a lot of residents.”

PLANS for a 73-acre solar farm on agricultural land in Devon have been refused. Torridge District Council refused the plans for the solar farm, with battery storage, on land at Ebberley Down, near Roborough, on July 26 2024. Devon CPRE has welcomed the news, saying it is the 'right decision for Devon's countryside'. The group say this is 'one of the very few' applications that has been turned down in recent years, with Torridge District Council approving the controversial Derril Water Solar Farm near Pyworthy in 2021. Torridge District Council refused the plans because of the harm to the landscape, as well as the fact that the site includes a high proportion of Best and Most Versitile (BMV) agricultural land.

Southampton Town has extended a moratorium on new battery energy storage systems for the second time as officials seek more time to bolster safety codes, but over the objections of environmentalists. The town board on Tuesday voted 5-0 to extend the pause for another six months, leaving the moratorium in place through Feb. 13.

Two controversial issues dominated the Monday morning meeting of Kerr County Commissioners’ Court. First, the construction of a lithium battery storage facility in West Kerr County and a request for tax abatements from the county by the developer drew a number of persons to speak against the proposal. The lithium battery energy storage project on Reservation Road at IH-10 in Pct. 4 drew several local residents to commissioners’ court Monday to object to the project and a similar project planned for Center Point that has not been formally announced yet....To the issue of possible toxic fumes from the fire that might create problems, Hughes said that the current policy is to just let the fire burn itself out, which Paces countered with concerns about the likely source of combustion around the facility from trees and brush and the probability the fire would spread. Paces said with the current drought conditions in Kerr County that the local VFDs do not have the water sources needed to extinguish large fires....Eight speakers spoke against the storage facility itself and against the county providing a tax abatement. Jeff Boerner, a Kerr County resident, with property also in Kendall County, told the court that the residents of Comfort were actively fighting against a plant being built there.