Plans to build a battery storage facility near Weymouth have been rejected for safety reasons. Dorset Council's planning committee unanimously voted against plans for a 60MW facility in Chickerell. They ruled it could have implications for an application for a larger site in future and presented "too big a risk" if lithium batteries ever caught fire. Ward councillor Jean Dunseith told the meeting local residents had been "frightened" by the proposals.

County residents had a clear message for the Halifax County Board of Supervisors at Monday evening’s meeting: They don’t want to see any more solar facilities popping up in their community. The supervisors let the standing-room-only crowd know that their voices had been heard and voted to put a halt on applications for new solar projects for now. Election District 1 Supervisor Pete Riddle made the motion to table any conditional use permit applications for solar projects “until we figure this out.” Riddle’s motion was met with applause from the audience. ED-8 Supervisor William Bryant Claiborne seconded the motion...Riddle’s motion passed in a 7-1 vote...Prior to supervisors’ vote, several county residents spoke out against future solar development in their community. One of those was Alton resident Stacey Long, a member of the group We the People of Virginia, Inc. “Over a year ago when our group ‘We the People’ started our journey against solar here, we were told that this county was just about at its cap (for solar) and we could rest assured it was just about done,” Long said. “Since then, there have been many more approved and more to come. I have spoken with so many people and the vast majority agree that we should not approve any more here … We are now around 1% in Halifax County under solar panels. Where does it stop?” Long voiced concerns that the solar panel arrays would result in “plummeting property values” for neighboring landowners. “My heart breaks for the neighbors in the Alton community, for homes sitting near these monstrosities and now their property is worth at least 20% less,” Long expressed. “Most of these people can’t afford to sell at that price nor do they want to leave their home that they have been in their entire life.”

It appears representatives with Carpenter Wind Farm will have to reapply for a zoning map amendment or rezoning to establish a wind farm overlay district in the southern portion of Jasper Ccunty. At Monday’s county plan commission meeting — which featured a standing-room-only crowd at the county annex building behind Saint Joseph’s College with a handful of people outside listening through windows — county surveyor and commission member Vince Urbano suggested the wind farm applicants hire an independent consultant at the county’s choosing to review all materials related to the application to “make sure the laws and ordinances are followed” before an overlay can be established. “We’re not quite ready for this,” Urbano said to fellow members of the commission after much discussion...The wind farm is a project of EDP Renewables North America, which is proposing 45 turbines in the area that would produce a capacity of 200 megawatts of electricity.

A local planning committee for Swale Borough Council has refused an application to install a battery energy storage system (BESS) at the 373MW Cleve Hill Solar Park, the BBC has reported. According to the article, residents feared using lithium ferrophosphate (LFP) batteries to store energy. This led to a protest outside the council’s office before the planning committee meeting on Wednesday (28 February). Solar Power Portal’s past coverage on the project, which was renamed Project Fortress, indicated that the battery storage element of the project would include an installed capacity of 150MW, making it amongst the largest in the country.

Plans for a large solar farm that would have powered 7,650 homes in Coventry have been rejected after opposition from residents. More than 60,000 solar panels would have been installed on greenbelt farmland in the north of the city as part of the proposals. The farm was proposed by Coventry City Council, which said it would help curb climate change and lower energy bills...But at a planning committee meeting on Thursday, councillors voted to refuse the application for Lentons Lane Farm, with two for and three against the plans. Councillors raised concerns over the proximity of the solar panels to homes, and the impact on the farmer, Edward Dewes, who was currently living on the land.

The Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals voted to deny a request for a conditional use permit for Carina Solar to allow a commercial solar energy system in the Agriculture Preferred zoning district. The vote was 4-1 against the proposal with Arnold Haskell voting in dissent. The project includes multiple parcels of land located generally south of County Road 100S, west of County Road 525E, east of South Gladstone Avenue and north of County Road 400S in Columbus Township. Carina Solar, LLC, a subsidiary of Samsung’s C&T, submitted an application for a conditional use permit to construct, operate and maintain a proposed 100 megawatt AC power generation facility. It would be placed on 48 parcels of scattered cultivated agricultural fields leased to the company by 24 local landowners. The proposed project would be located on a total of approximately 1,883 acres of leased property from multiple land owners.

Alberta, which produces most of Canada’s crude oil, will ban renewable power projects on prime agricultural land and erect buffer zones to ensure wind turbines do not spoil scenic views, the provincial government said on Wednesday. Last year, Alberta temporarily halted approvals of major new projects amid concerns over renewables’ reliability and land use, cooling investment in the rapidly growing industry and challenging the federal government’s clean energy ambitions. The western province has led the country in building renewable capacity and is on track to eliminate combustion of coal for power this year, six years ahead of plan. Alberta’s right-of-center government said the pause on approvals would be lifted on Thursday but it would from now on take an “agriculture first” approach with proposed projects. The province will bar renewable generation projects on land it deems has excellent or good irrigation capability and will set up buffer zones of a minimum of 35 km (22 miles) around protected areas or what the government considers pristine views. New wind turbine projects will no longer be permitted within those buffer zones.

Pottawattamie County is adopting new wind and solar laws. The county started considering new ordinances last August but was met with considerable community pushback...The main changes the board approved include a three-mile buffer from small towns, parks and recreation sites, and the Council Bluffs airport. Setbacks now must be at least half-a-mile from a house. Before the requirement was just under 0.2 miles. The new ordinance also requires a setback from property lines to be just over a quarter-mile. The new rules also put limitations on how high turbines can be, which is no taller than 412 feet. That change, Wyant said, is a direct result of the community input. [Ed note: the regulations also require protection of ag land, a surety bond, and other measures. The full ordinance is here: https://www.pottcounty-ia.gov/files/planning_and_development/pottawattamie_county_ordinance_202305_91556.pdf]

Pottawattamie County is adopting new wind and solar laws. The county started considering new ordinances last August but was met with considerable community pushback...The main changes the board approved include a three-mile buffer from small towns, parks and recreation sites, and the Council Bluffs airport. Setbacks now must be at least half-a-mile from a house. Before the requirement was just under 0.2 miles. The new ordinance also requires a setback from property lines to be just over a quarter-mile. The new rules also put limitations on how high turbines can be, which is no taller than 412 feet. That change, Wyant said, is a direct result of the community input. [Ed note: the regulations also require protection of ag land, a surety bond, and other measures. The full ordinance is here: https://www.pottcounty-ia.gov/files/planning_and_development/pottawattamie_county_ordinance_202305_91556.pdf]

A proposed solar farm that was slated to occupy about 600 acres of land in Millington was denied by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners Monday evening, amid fervent opposition from residents.The Graceland Solar Project planned to send the majority of the power generated to a Meta Platforms Inc. data center in Gallatin, Tennessee and the rest will also be sold to the Tennessee Valley Authority. Residents have been active at Shelby County Board of Commissioners meetings and Division of Planning and Development meetings pleading with local officials to put an end to the planned project...The neighbors' concerns ranged from runoff that could cause erosion to the land, RWE's lack of concern for wildlife in the area, and chiefly, that the solar panels will be an eyesore in their rural neighborhood plummeting home values...The Graceland Solar Project is part of TVA’s Green Invest partnership with RWE and Meta. The 150-megawatt solar facility will allocate 100 megawatts to Meta for use at its data center in Gallatin....Though the resolution to allow the solar farm to be built was denied, an attorney Monday night said that the company could sue the county to reverse the commission's decision. Should the company win that lawsuit, the county attorney said the conditions providing additional oversight would be removed. After learning of that, Ford asked the crowd to raise their hands if they were against the item, even with the conditions. Almost all of the spectators raised their hands. Ford then asked if residents were willing to risk losing in court to the solar company and having the solar farm built without the conditions. A nearly identical number of residents raised their hands.