EAST WINDSOR, Conn. (WFSB) – If someone wants to build a solar farm in your town, your local officials aren’t the ones making the decision. Changes to that system have previously been opposed by Governor Ned Lamont.
On March 31st, Lamont took a tour of some of the largest solar fields in the state in East Windsor. Town officials in East Windsor say the town of only around 11,000 people has around a third of the entire state’s industrial solar fields.
Chris Dahl lives in East Windsor and is co-founder of the Facebook group ‘East Windsor for Responsible Solar’. The group is a grassroots organization that has come together to push back against future solar developments in East Windsor.
Dahl says she moved to the town for the quiet of the country.
“The piece of farmland when you look out over it is very soothing,” said Dahl.
Dahl says all the industrial solar fields are changing the feel of the town.
“I see residents who don’t want to live here anymore,” said Dahl.
East Windsor for Responsible Solar spent months putting together their argument against a proposal to expand solar into fields near the corner of East Rd and Middle Rd. 161 people wrote letters against the project and more than 2,000 people signed a petition. In early March, the project was approved unanimously by Connecticut’s Siting Council.
“We did a really thorough job, and quite frankly it was disappointing that we did all this work, and we thought it would make a difference with the council, and it didn’t at all,” said Dahl.
The I-Team asked, “Did it feel like you were heard?”
“No. No,” said Dahl.
The Connecticut Siting Council gets the final say on utility projects like industrial solar. Local leaders like a mayor or state representative can voice their opinion, but they don’t get a vote.
An I-Team investigation found over a 3-year period, 88% of solar projects were approved.
State lawmakers in the East Windsor area have proposed bills to give local towns more power, but they’ve faced opposition from Governor Ned Lamont.
On March 31st, Governor Lamont agreed to a tour of the area. He rode in a van with state representatives and while Dahl and others, including town leaders, took the tour on a bus. They made a stop at the solar panels near East Rd and Middle Rd that caught fire in March 2025.
The I-Team asked Lamont, “In the past you’ve vetoed some bills that were passed that would have made changes to the siting council, does this tour mean you’re now open to making changes to how the siting council operates?”
Lamont responded, “Well, depends what we do. Look, you’d never have a cell tower in this state if every town had a total veto over things going on in the state, but by the same token preserving open space and farmland is another one of our priorities right alongside more generation. We got to figure out how to get that balance right.”
Dahl is glad the governor is now seeing what she’s been living around in person. She hopes the balance he talks about takes some of the state’s energy needs somewhere else
“There really needs to be a balance around the state and not just in our town,” said Dahl.
The town of East Windsor is appealing the decision to approve more solar in the area. There are several bills proposed this legislative session that would give local governments more control. The I-Team asked Lamont directly if he would support any of these bills. He said it was too early to say.
Copyright 2026 WFSB. All rights reserved.

source