Across the UK and the US, the race to expand solar energy is heating up, sparking passionate debates about the future of land, wildlife, and rural communities. As governments push for cleaner energy and ambitious climate targets, solar farms are cropping up on fields and pastures, igniting questions about what’s gained—and what might be lost—when the sun powers the grid.
In Oregon, a recent editorial in The Bulletin (September 9, 2025) spotlighted new state rules designed to make it easier for solar farms to win approval in Eastern Oregon, including Central Oregon’s Deschutes County. The rules, set to take effect in January 2026, offer an alternative path for developers, aiming to cut red tape while still protecting valuable farmland, wildlife habitats, and cultural resources. These changes stem from House Bill 3409, passed in 2023, which sought to modernize Oregon’s storied land use laws—first established in 1973 with Senate Bill 100 to curb sprawl and preserve the state’s agricultural heritage.
But will these new rules really unleash a solar boom in Deschutes County? County commissioners, scheduled to decide this week whether to adopt the new approach, are weighing their options: stick with the old rules, embrace the new state framework, or create their own. A county analysis suggests the impact may be muted—most eligible properties are under 100 acres, and priorities like farmland and wildlife protection still take precedence over solar development. According to The Bulletin, “Deschutes County may actually not see much impact if commissioners accept the new state rules. There’s already so much existing development in the county. And preserving good farmland and wildlife habitat areas, such as for sage grouse, get preference over solar farms.”
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the tension is playing out in real time on the green fields of Cumbria. High Rigg Solar Limited has applied to Westmorland and Furness Council to build a solar farm on agricultural land at Calthwaite, near Penrith—a project the size of 70 football pitches. As reported by Yahoo News on September 9, 2025, dozens of local residents have voiced objections, worried about losing productive farmland, the proximity to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and the visual impact on the landscape. One Calthwaite resident lamented, “There is no need to destroy good farming land, once it is gone it will never be returned to its original state, regardless of what mitigation is offered.”
Planning documents submitted by the developer argue that the site is “lower grade agricultural land,” and that the solar farm is necessary to meet the UK’s renewable energy goals and fight climate change. The company has promised the land will be returned to its original condition after 40 years of operation—a pledge that some locals meet with skepticism. Skelton Parish Council, echoing many in the community, worries about increased construction traffic and the sheer scale of the proposal, stating, “Whilst both the parish council and the community as a whole are supportive of the principle of renewable energy, it is felt that the large scale of this proposal will be overbearing on the local landscape and its impact on the community.” The council is expected to decide after a public consultation period ending September 18, 2025.
These local disputes are just the tip of a much larger iceberg. Conservationists warn that the rapid expansion of solar farms could push rare wildlife habitats "beyond the point of no return." As BBC News reported on September 9, 2025, the Gwent Wildlife Trust has raised alarms about Llanwern Solar Farm in southeast Wales—one of the UK’s largest, built in 2020 on two SSSIs. According to Natalie Buttriss, chief executive of the Trust, “Lapwings weren’t returning to the site to breed and they’re very rare now as a species in the levels. We also found that bat populations were crashing—the insect mass has gone down.” A Welsh government report from 2024 linked the solar farm to declines in Lapwing birds, brown-banded bees, shrill carder bees, and low bat box occupancy.
Buttriss worries that approving more large-scale solar farms on protected land could “open the floodgates” for similar developments across the UK. “It will be cumulative, one solar farm on its own would be devastating enough for the special landscape we’ve got here. But yes, if you accumulate more and more solar farms, that’s going to have a bigger impact—species will not be able to spread and disperse—and find breeding places and places to feed. All of that is going to come crashing down if we start to go beyond the point of no return.” A petition opposing new solar developments on the Gwent Levels has already gathered nearly 6,000 signatures.
The debate is hardly confined to Wales. On Anglesey, the recently approved Alaw Môn solar farm will be more than twice the size of Llanwern, promising to power every home on the island but also drawing resistance over the loss of agricultural land. Professor Dave Chadwick of Bangor University, who studies the impact of solar farms on land, sums up the dilemma: “We haven’t got any more land, we can’t create it, yet we need our land to provide food security, to contribute to energy security, to deliver our clean water and clean air, and our biodiversity. So it’s about coming up with a good, regional, national, land use optimisation strategy, which will allow us to understand how we’re going to use land to deliver these different services. There’s no black and white rule here, it’s not an easy thing to try and work out.”
Solar advocates, however, point to a different set of benefits. Dan McCallum, who runs Awel Aman Tawe in Carmarthenshire, is unequivocal: “The bigger the better. If we could develop a massive solar farm here we would, but there’s simply not the land.” He argues that larger solar farms are more efficient and cost-effective, and that the planning system should weigh the location of projects carefully. For McCallum, the threat of climate change outweighs the risks to biodiversity, saying, “I think climate change is having a much bigger impact on biodiversity, and I think organisations like the wildlife trust need to recognise that.”
Governments, too, are bullish on solar’s future. The UK government estimates the solar sector could support 35,000 jobs by 2030, and the Welsh government aims for 70% of electricity to come from renewables by that year. A UK government spokesperson told the BBC, “Delivering more solar goes hand-in-hand with our work to reverse the decline of nature, after years of neglect—having been found to treble bird numbers and increase bumblebee populations. Families in Wales have seen their energy bills go through the roof due to our exposure to fossil fuels and delivering clean power, like solar, is how we help get bills down for good and make Britain more energy secure.”
Back in Oregon, the state will review the impact of its new solar rules and report to the Legislature in 2027, leaving local officials and residents with plenty to ponder in the meantime. As the world pivots toward renewables, finding the right balance between clean energy, food security, and nature’s needs remains one of the thorniest—and most urgent—challenges of our time.
