BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WBNG) — Solar farms are becoming a familiar sight across New York as the state doubles down on renewable energy.
New York has more than 7.9 gigawatts of distributed solar energy installed, with more than 271,000 projects currently operating statewide, according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Officials said those projects are part of an effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, improve air quality, and create a more resilient electric grid.
But with each project proposed comes questions from the residents it could impact.
“Some of the things that we hear are that, you know, the visual impact… some people don’t find them as beautiful,” said Sarah Carson, director of Cornell’s Campus Sustainability Office.
Carson said there are both benefits and concerns when it comes to solar development.
Cornell looks at these projects through what she calls a “triple bottom line” approach, focusing on people, the planet, and economic impact.
“You’re not going to have the opportunity for lower power prices for your community. We’re not going to have the benefits of jobs. We’re not going to have the benefits of what people often talk about as distributed energy resources,” Carson said.
Carson said community solar projects can also help local infrastructure because developers often pay for upgrades to electric distribution systems.
She also pointed to agrivoltaics, where developers use the same land for both solar panels and farming.
“So this solar farm that we’re looking at here, all of the vegetation management is done by sheep,” Carson said.
Guilermo Metz, a solar and agriculture senior resource educator at Cornell, said much of the debate centers around land use and whether local government gets enough say in the decision-making process.
“There was a concern that the municipalities would lose local control over these projects and local review. And essentially, it got sort of blown out of proportion that basically that meant the state is coming after your land,” Metz said.
Metz said any project over 25 megawatts, enough to power up to 25,000 homes, goes through state review, but local governments still have input through zoning and community planning.
He said many farmers are also under financial pressure, making solar leases appealing.
“This is their retirement plan, essentially, is to be able to sell pieces of their farm or to lease it,” Metz said.
Alex Fasulo, president of the American Land Rescue Fund, said her concerns started after learning about a proposed solar project in the Albany area.
“It is a project that is cited for one of the last grasslands of its kind throughout the Northeast, and it’s a grassland that has so many different environmental designations and endangered species,” Fasulo said.
Fasulo said many communities feel they have little say in whether large-scale projects move forward.
“The current approval process, I wouldn’t really call it a process. It’s more of an authoritarian decision that is made at OREZ,” Fasulo said.
Many worry that land used for solar farms can never be used to grow food again.
However, Metz said large projects are required to have plans to restore the land in place before construction even begins.
“A bond is put in place that the town holds to pay for that entire decommissioning,” Metz said.
He said that the plan includes removing panels, roads, and infrastructure, with requirements to return the land to functional agricultural use.
But Fasulo questioned whether those projects will always be properly cleaned up in the future.
“There are different elements baked into the contracts that will allow the corporation to essentially dissolve or not be around for decommissioning, or they will file bankruptcy,” Fasulo said.
While some residents question whether solar should be built on open land at all, supporters said rooftops and parking lots alone won’t be enough to meet the state’s clean energy goals.
“People ask a lot, why can’t it just go on buildings and medial ways of highways, and like every single parking garage should have you know filled with solar if we did that, it still wouldn’t be enough,” Carson said.
NYSERDA said New York is ahead of schedule in its goal to reach 10 gigawatts of distributed solar in the next four years.
Copyright 2026 WBNG. All rights reserved.

source