By Ben Rappaport
A shallow thrum can be heard along U.S. 74 in western Robeson County near a 40-acre solar farm that generates enough electricity to power more than 1,000 homes each year.
It’s a familiar sound in Robeson, which has 41 solar farms, more than any other North Carolina county. With mild winters, consistent sunshine and relatively cheap land, the southeastern corner of the state has become an ideal spot for solar projects as power giants like Duke Energy try to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.
While Robeson leaders have long touted solar farms as a boon for the economically distressed county, they are now reconsidering their stance. County commissioners discussed a possible moratorium in December after approving a large expansion of a planned 700-acre solar farm in the county’s northeastern edge. They say the county needs to put in place regulations to reduce the projects’ potential impacts, including the loss of farmland and soil erosion that can lead to flooding.
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“We’re trying to make sure we’ve got the correct litmus test for these,” Assistant County Attorney Ed Brooks said. “We want to make sure these solar farms are still more beneficial than they are detrimental.”
North Carolina has more than 700 solar farms spanning nearly 35,000 acres, predominantly in rural communities, according to the NC Sustainable Energy Association. The state ranks fourth in the nation in total solar power generation and solar generating capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Many environmental activists say solar farms, which are typically operated by private companies that sell the energy to utility providers, are crucial to fighting climate change. But some argue that the facilities — which use rows of photovoltaic panels to turn sunlight into electricity — often exploit poor, rural communities like Robeson, which has a long history of environmental injustices.
Robeson County produced 48 million chickens and turkeys in 2023, making it the fifth-largest poultry producer in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That year, the Lumber River Waterkeeper and the activist group Friends of the Earth filed a complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights, alleging that North Carolina failed to adequately regulate the poultry industry.
The complaint also said the industry discriminates against Native American, Black and Latino communities. Robeson, one of the most diverse counties in America, is home to the Lumbee Native American tribe and many Tuscaroran people.

Mac Legerton, director of the Robeson County Cooperative for Sustainable Development, said he understands the need for alternative energy sources. But, he said, there are more sustainable solutions than solar panels that take up large swaths of farmland and cause noise pollution.
“There will be potential impacts on flooding, drought, heat stress, animal and plant life, ecosystems and public health,” Legerton said.
A lot of land
Large solar farms help decarbonize the energy grid in a relatively inexpensive way, said Dalia Patino-Echeverri, a professor of energy policy at Duke University.
“Solar farms are needed for reducing carbon emissions of the electricity system,” she said. “We have to replace the electricity that we currently produce with coal-powered and natural gas-power plants.”
But they take up a lot of space: Ten times more land is needed for a solar farm to generate the same amount of energy produced by wind turbines, and up to 75 times more land is needed to generate the same amount as a nuclear power plant, according to research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Solar is just one piece of the energy puzzle.”
Channing Jones, Robeson County’s economic development director
Solar energy is estimated to have caused the loss of between 40,000 and 50,000 acres in North Carolina, state Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler told the Carolina Journal last year. Robeson County is on track to lose more than 14,700 acres of its total farmland by 2040, according to the American Farmland Trust, although all of that land would likely not be used for solar farms.
“We’re a rural community with a large agricultural presence,” said Channing Jones, Robeson County’s economic development director. “And there’s obviously efforts to protect that agricultural acuity of rural areas.”
While the U.S. Department of Agriculture says solar farms built on agricultural land can harm wildlife and erode soil, it suggests the land is not permanently damaged. Nationally, more than 80% of land used for solar farms is eventually returned to agricultural use, according to a study from the USDA.
It is often farmers themselves who lease the land to solar companies. Revenue from traditional cash crops has declined due to lower commodity prices, increased production costs and unpredictable weather conditions. Solar farms can provide a stable source of income with limited risk to the farmer, who can charge between $750 and $1,400 per acre per year, according to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
Rooftop panels
Robeson County leaders say they want to make sure there is enough available land for residential growth. In the southeastern corner of the county, Fairmont approved a 76-unit apartment complex in April. Lumberton, the county seat, has more than 300 housing units under construction.
Jones said it’s important to create a balance between preserving rural character and taking advantage of opportunity.
“Solar is just one piece of the energy puzzle,” he said. “We’ve been one of the most prevalent counties on solar, but now we need to figure out how to balance it out.”
Legerton said focusing more on small-scale and residential rooftop solar projects would help reduce the loss of farmland.
“We have to be engaging people in all 100 counties in the needed energy transition,” Legerton said. “That means assessing their energy use, establishing public/private energy transition partnerships, developing plans for major solar development with battery storage with homeowners, small businesses, large corporations, local governments, schools, universities and colleges, and nonprofits.”
The Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit focused on renewable energy, says the most sustainable approach to solar is through microgrids, which can produce energy more reliably and cheaper than that generated from large-scale production.
However, small projects can be costly and more difficult to build at the needed scale, Patino-Echeverri said.
“We’re trying to make sure we’ve got the correct litmus test for these. We want to make sure these solar farms are still more beneficial than they are detrimental.”
Assistant County Attorney Ed Brooks
There are are concerns that President Donald Trump, who was sworn in on Monday, will eliminate the 30% federal tax credit for rooftop solar installations that was put in place by Joe Biden. Ahead of the November election, Trump vowed to boost oil and gas production and rescind unspent money from the Inflation Reduction Act, which helped create North Carolina’s Solar for All program. The state got $156 million from the program for 60 grants across the state aimed at helping low-income residents and disadvantaged communities gain access to solar projects, according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.
Some energy experts have said they don’t expect Trump to target solar power. During his first administration, from 2016 to 2020, the U.S. solar industry grew by 128%, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Plans for more solar farms
Robeson isn’t the only place to consider a pause on solar farms. Last month, the N.C. Court of Appeals upheld Pender County’s denial of a solar farm project?? that would have been the largest in the state. There, farmers said they worried about potential flooding and runoff from development.
Duke Energy’s focus on solar energy is clear, however. The company plans to expand with more than 30 new solar farms and nearly 900 miles of new transmission lines, much of which would cut across rural southeastern North Carolina, including Robeson County, according to records of the project plans from the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
Garrett Poorman, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, said the company buys power from “numerous” solar farms in Robeson County.
“While we currently do not own or operate any solar facilities in the county, we continue to evaluate potential power generation sites across our service territory and are committed to working with our communities as specific projects are identified,” Poorman told the Border Belt Independent in a statement on Thursday.
According to a report from the North Carolina Transmission Planning Collaborative, the lines would likely be on farmland, some of which could be acquired through eminent domain.
Jim Warren, director of NC WARN, a nonprofit aimed at fighting climate change, called the plan environmentally destructive and minimally impactful.
“On top of forcing people to live near these transmission lines, they also just haven’t been open about the process,” Warren said of Duke Energy.
The rising number of solar farms has made it tougher for solar companies to sell the energy they generate to utility providers. Jones said some solar farms have to wait two to three years. It’s a national challenge for renewable energy as demand for projects continues to grow.
“There’s more and more companies fighting to connect to the grid,” he said. “So the utility company is going to mitigate how many they bring online at any given point.”
Jones said Robeson County has the opportunity to be at the forefront of the energy transition by committing to finding a balance that works for companies, utilities and residents.
County commissioners are expected to consider a moratorium on new solar farms at a meeting in February.
“Our solar farms are not the be-all, end-all,” he said. “The future of energy here won’t just be about the sun — it’ll be about creating that proper balance in Robeson County and across the country.”
This story has been updated from its original version to include a statement from Duke Energy.
