Meta, the parent company of popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and messaging services like WhatsApp, is championing a 250-megawatt (MW) solar power project in Arkansas. The tech giant has agreed to purchase the cleaner electricity the farm generates. ​The solar farm is being developed by EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA), an American subsidiary of a Portuguese-Spanish Renewable Energy Company. ​On Wednesday (November 4), the company broke ground on Cypress Knee Solar in Chicot County, towards the southeastern end of the state. The project is expected to be completed in the next two years, said officials. ​Capacity boosts to 545 MW Earlier in May, Meta and EDPR NA announced the deal. Under the agreement, the tech company signed a pact to support the clean energy the latter produces. Cypress Knee is the third such project among them, with Meta’s commitment to buy 545 MW from EDPR NA. ​To offset its carbon emissions, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company pledges long-term power purchases of cleaner energy. This contributes to the company’s larger goal of matching 100 percent of its annual electricity use with renewable energy generation. ​Beyond providing reliable energy to support America’s power grid, the Kansas project is expected...

A parish council has raised strong objections to a planned solar farm on agricultural land that could generate enough electricity to power more than 15,000 homes a year. The Shuttleworth Trust, which owns the land, said: "Matters relating to the planning application process will be considered through the appropriate statutory channels." On the project's own website, Quintas Cleantech, the developer, said the location was chosen because it was a "great spot" for a solar farm, as the land was "relatively flat and doesn't cover any protected landscape areas". The company is working on more than 10 proposals across the UK. A 15MW battery would store excess energy generated by the solar panels during the day, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. High-quality agricultural farmland would be lost, he said, and there would be an increase in traffic and noise. He urged planners to give serious consideration to Historic England's conclusion that a solar farm would negatively impact a Romano-British settlement that is adjacent to the site. The Shuttleworth Estate said its trustees were responsible for managing the estate in the "most effective and sustainable way". "Any commercial arrangements relating to the estate are confidential between the parties involved and...

Residents in a village close to a proposed new solar farm say they are "horrified" by the plans. Solar farm company Low Carbon wants to build the huge development on land around Mark, in Somerset, to help the UK meet its target of being net zero by 2050. It says the project would provide electricity for more than 140,000 homes. But locals in Mark, a village with a population of about 700 people, say the solar farm is "too large" and the road infrastructure is "not up to scratch". Ed Perrin, development director at Low Carbon, said the project is at an "early stage" and wants "local knowledge to help shape their plans" ahead of a public consultation next spring. The project, called Somerset Energy Park, would see the solar farm and an energy storage park built on land east of the M5, have a generating capacity of up to 500 megawatts and would connect to the National Grid. Jan Horn, who lives in Mark, said: "I'm horrified because they're totally going to encase the village and ruin all the countryside around." Jane Mason, who has lived in the village for 42 years, said: "I've got very mixed feelings about...

Solar energy is booming. By the end of the year, photovoltaics are expected to account for 10 percent of the world’s energy production, by which point it will have eclipsed even nuclear fission by sheer production capacity. As industrial supply chains make solar-generated electricity cheaper than ever before, a growing body of research indicates that solar farms are a net positive for many reasons — which makes recent anti-solar regulations all the more vexing. New reporting by the Calgary Herald took a look at a 480-acre farm in southern Alberta, owned and operated by a man named Mark Owerko. Thanks to a transmission line located near his land, Owerko was situated in a prime area to establish a solar farm. After eight years, his property became a combination solar plant, apiary, and sheep farm. That’s a winning combination, according to a paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. According to the study, allowing just two sheep per hectare to graze the grasses growing around photovoltaic installations improves the abundance of bees and beneficial beetles by 38 percent, driven mostly by an 83 percent increase in adjacent honey bee populations compared to solar farms mowed by hand. As the paper’s...

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Australian researchers have found that smoke from bushfires can significantly reduce solar farm output, even from more than 150km away.

One of the biggest headaches for owners of utility-scale solar farms in the last few years has been the huge increase in negative price intervals in the middle of the day, with some facilities forced to switch off – rather than pay someone else to take their power – more than half the time. That situation has arisen because solar farms built up to now have not come with their own batteries, their market has been eaten up by rooftop solar on homes and businesses, and because coal generators would actually prefer to pay someone else to take their power, because it’s cheaper and less problematic than shutting down their units. That situation is starting to change. For a start, most new solar projects are coming with their own batteries connected “behind the meter”, and the first of these have already started operations. And the massive growth in standalone grid-scale battery storage, which has grown three-fold in terms of storage capacity in just the past year, and the surge in home batteries thanks to the federal rebate, is also creating new demand in the middle of the day, soaking up the excess solar, and keeping prices above zero more often...

Planning permission is only being granted to some aspects of a solar farm project in Longford.

Solar grazing is helping sheep farmers expand their businesses, opening opportunities for rural jobs, new investment, and stronger agricultural supply chains. Sheep can feed on the vegetation growing around solar panels while farmers get paid to keep it under control. Too few sheep may leave farmers with grass they still need to mow, while heavier grazing can reduce honeybee numbers. Two new Cornell University studies examine the ecological and financial choices behind this growing practice, known as solar grazing. One tested how the number of sheep on the land affects beneficial insects. The other developed a tool to help farmers plan flock size, purchases, and sales. More sheep, fewer honey bees At two sheep per hectare, or roughly one per 1.2 acres, the combined abundance of wild bees, honey bees, and lady beetles was 38% higher than in a mowed control plot. Honey bee numbers were 83% higher, accounting for most of the overall increase. Doubling the density to four sheep per hectare improved vegetation control, but beneficial insect abundance was similar to that in the mowed control. Eight sheep per hectare delivered the strongest vegetation control, and flock health remained high. At that density, however, honey bee abundance fell...

United States (US) croplands are ideal recipient environments for solar photovoltaic (PV) energy because they are flat and have a high solar resour...

One of New Zealand’s largest solar farms was officially opened last week, with the 150-megawatt (MW) Kōwhai Park solar farm on New Zealand’ South Island expected to generate 275 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity each year. Developed by a joint venture consisting of local gentailer Contact Energy and global renewable energy developer Lightsource BP, the Kōwhai Park solar farm began construction in early 2025 after it secured $NZ267 million in financing in mid-2024. Located adjacent to the Christchurch Airport on Aotearoa New Zealand’s South Island, the 150 MWact/168 MWdc solar farm is made up of around 300,000 solar panels and is expected to generate electricity equivalent to the annual demand of around 36,000 homes. Electricity generated at the farm will be sold to Christchurch Airport and dairy company Synlait under long-term power purchase agreements. “New Zealand has an incredible renewable energy advantage,” said Mike Fuge, Contact Energy CEO. “Building new generation at scale gives businesses the confidence to electrify and strengthens our security of supply. That means a more resilient energy system, with more home-grown generation supporting a productive and prosperous New Zealand. “Kōwhai Park is our first completed solar farm, and we have another two consented sites in Taranaki and...

The prime minister has officially opened the South Island’s largest solar farm at Christchurch Airport. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was in the city on Thursday to open the $273 million Kōwhai Park farm. Developed through Contact Energy and Lightsource bp’s joint venture partnership, the solar farm is expected to generate 275GWh of renewable energy a year. That’s enough to run about 36,000 average New Zealand homes. The airport and Canterbury-based dairy company, Synlait, will source electricity from Kōwhai Park under long-term power purchase agreements. Synlait will buy 25% of the electricity generated to power its Dunsandel and Dairyworks plants. The farm has about 300,000 solar panels, stretching across a 230ha site. Contact chief executive Mike Fuge said the farm demonstrates the opportunity renewable energy presents for New Zealand. “New Zealand has an incredible renewable energy advantage. Building new generation at scale gives businesses the confidence to electrify and strengthens our security of supply. “That means a more resilient energy system, with more home-grown generation supporting a productive and prosperous New Zealand. “We have huge aspirations for what renewable energy can deliver for this country.” Kōwhai Park was Lightsource bp’s first completed project in New Zealand. Its chief operating officer for...

The Australian Government has committed up to $32.3 million to establish solar robotics manufacturing facilities in Melbourne and Brisbane.

U Mobile partners HLGY Energy to explore private 5G-powered smart solar farms in Malaysia, using AI, autonomous drones and automation to improve operations.

Two Conservative MPs have criticised the approval of plans for one of the biggest solar farms in the country. Stuart Andrew, the MP for Daventry and Sarah Bool, the MP for South Northamptonshire, claimed Green Hill Solar Farm would take up farmland and change the countryside. The development, which was approved on Thursday, will go ahead across about 2,965 acres (1,200 hectares) of land south and west of Wellingborough, north of Northampton and parts of Buckinghamshire. When speaking to Annabel Amos on BBC Northampton, Andrew said: "We're going to see villages in my constituency being surrounded by these huge solar farms and it will change the landscape and... we will lose good arable land." Bool said in a statement she was "incredibly disappointed" and was "taking stock" of the decision to make "versatile land" not available to arable farming. The size of the project meant that recommendations for the scheme were made by the Planning Inspectorate, rather than local planning authorities. The inspectorate's examination stage took more than five months to complete, opening in October 2025 and closing in April. More than 1,200 people and businesses sent comments about the plans. Juliet Jarvis, from the Stop Green Hill Solar campaign...

Located in Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes, the UK, the project will provide up to 500 MWac of solar generation alongside a 500 MW battery energy storage system (BESS). Once built, its solar generation will produce enough electricity to meet the annual needs of more than 200 000 UK homes. Green Hill marks Island Green Power’s fourth consent of 2026 and its third consented Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), following Cottam Solar and West Burton Solar. Bob Psaradellis, CEO of Island Green Power, responded: “This decision confirms that Island Green Power produces high-quality NSIP proposals that will benefit Britain. As the company moves into our new era as an independent power producer, projects such as Green Hill will form the basis of a strong portfolio of solar generation and battery energy storage. The benefits will be shared with communities, through a local benefit fund, and the wider country, through the increase in secure, clean, and cheap homegrown power.” Project Development Manager, Lesley Giles, added: “We are grateful to the team who worked to design and deliver this successful application. I also want to thank the local communities who engaged with our consultation process. Their feedback has helped us to shape Green...

As humans contend with the ongoing climate crisis, many are taking action to help bolster our fragile world. One way is to increase biodiversity, which is seriously threatened by habitat destruction. In one study, however, researchers rehabilitated agricultural land and brought new life to it. Even better, they did it all at solar farms, which provide eco-friendly power. It shows that green energy and habitat restoration can go hand in hand. The findings were documented in a 2023 journal article titled If you build it, will they come? Insect community responses to habitat establishment at solar energy facilities in Minnesota, USA. To start, scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory planted native flowers and grasses at two solar farms in southern Minnesota in 2018. They then studied the sites over five years (2018 to 2022) to learn how insect communities responded to the new habitat. To evaluate the data, researchers looked for three key things: changes in flowering plant abundance and diversity over time; changes in insect abundance and diversity over time; and pollination services in the solar-pollinator habitat, compared with pollinator visitation to nearby agricultural fields. The habitats responded well. Scientists found increases over time...

A new study from researchers out of China has demonstrated that solar farms can have a material impact on reducing dust pollution reaching major cities, revealing a new, unexpected upside to renewable energy technology. Much like Australia, China boasts a range of climates and geographies, including the massive Gobi Desert, which stretches across parts of northern China and into Mongolia. With an area measuring around 1,295,000 square kilometres, the Gobi Desert is the sixth largest desert in the world, and as such is a source for the dust storms which are a growing threat to air quality and public health across northern China. Dust storms that stem from the Gobi Desert can transport dust downwind into the massive metropolises like Beijing. The Gobi Desert has also been a prime location for the development of solar farms – a key component of China’s goal of reaching net zero by 2060. It is these solar farms which are the focus of a new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, and which found that solar farms in the Gobi Desert have a significant ability to mitigate dust levels. Specifically, and as has been demonstrated in other studies, solar farms exert a...