As Connecticut pushes for more solar power, the state is increasingly forced to balance renewable energy goals against the protection of forests, wetlands and farmland. Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged the balancing act when touring East Windsor and Ellington, two towns where farmland has increasingly, and perhaps disproportionately, become solar farm sites. “I’m trying to figure out how we can preserve the open space,” he said during an April visit. “We’re taking open space, we’re taking fields and we’re commercializing them, in this case, with solar. I think that’s going the wrong direction.” But Connecticut’s clean-energy ambitions are forcing difficult land-use choices. Adam Gallaher, a land use researcher studying the effects of energy infrastructure development, said, “Deciding to prioritize one type of land use means shifting that amount of development pressure to land now being used for other purposes.” Connecticut has committed to a carbon-free electric grid by 2040. But the state’s clean-air ambitions force difficult land-use choices as developers search for places to build solar projects. Protecting forests often means placing greater development pressure on farmland, and vice versa.
Connecticut’s solar expansion is colliding with concerns over forests and farmland
