Utility-scale solar farm proposals are causing confusion in Livingston County

Author: RUTH THORNTON
Information service of the capital

FOWLERVILLE – Differing opinions about large-scale solar projects are pitting neighbors in rural Livingston County against each other.

Last November, the Legislature passed climate bills requiring utilities to generate 60% of their energy from renewable sources, including solar and wind, by 2035 and 100% from state-approved clean energy sources by 2040.

To achieve these goals, the legislation authorized the state to circumvent local bans on large renewable energy projects. In recent years, several municipalities have blocked solar and wind projects across the state.

Opinions about photovoltaic farms in the district are divided.

Jacob Fyrciak, a fourth-generation farmer from Conway Township, said his family farm, Fyrciak Farms, was approached by a solar developer.

“At first we thought it was a good idea,” Fyrciak said.

However, after looking at the contract template, Fyrciak found that many of the terms were unclear and problematic enough to make him think.

And when the farms were adjacent to his rejected solar lease offers, his farm was no longer of interest to DTE Energy, he said.

“They want adjacent tracts and they want large tracts,” Fyrciak said. “When the other packs said no, it just cut us off. Which, considering public opinion, we weren’t particularly sad about.”

Emotions are running high around solar farms in Livingston County, and controversial public meetings have been held in many municipalities.

Fyrciak said there was a big debate in Conway Township and many more people showed up at the township meeting than usual when solar farms were on the agenda.

“They had to move it from our local town hall to the school auditorium to accommodate the number of people,” Fyrciak said, with most attendees opposing the solar projects.

Opinions have become so polarized that some people are reluctant to speak out publicly. One farmer declined to be interviewed, citing concerns about the political and social backlash if found guilty.

Other farmers and local officials did not respond to requests for interviews.

Local opposition has impacted renewable energy projects in the area.

“We’ve really seen a slowdown, especially in wind energy in Michigan,” said Carlee Knott, energy and climate policy coordinator for the Michigan Environmental Council.

“Developers will identify farmers who want them built in those areas and then run into problems with disinformation campaigns,” Knott said.

The legislation “turned out to be a pretty good compromise between what developers wanted, what local governments wanted, and what environmentalists wanted,” Knott said.

“The changes that were introduced to improve the situation of local governments were to make sure that they were the first to approve permits,” she said.

Under the new guidelines, for smaller projects and local ordinances that are no more restrictive than the state’s, developers will work directly with local authorities rather than the state, Knott said.

This is often preferred for developers because the state process can take much longer.

If a local government has more restrictive permitting ordinances than the state, developers would be able to work with the Public Utilities Commission to go through the permitting process, Knott said.

Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, two of Michigan’s largest utilities, are working to meet the state’s renewable energy goals.

“We have a really ambitious goal of bringing 8,000 megawatts of solar power online by 2040.” – said Tracy Wimmer, media relations specialist at Consumers Energy.

“Now that we can see in real time the impact of extreme weather events as they increase in frequency and severity, not only on society as a whole, but on the power grid in particular, this is the direction we need and want to move,” she said.

As for local concerns about losing farmland to large-scale solar projects, “even if we had every acre we needed to get the 8,000 megawatts needed, it would represent less than 1% of all farmland in Michigan,” Wimmer said.

John Freeman, executive director of the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association, said opponents of solar projects are intentionally spreading misinformation in communities where large-scale solar projects are proposed.

“We need to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, both locally and at a larger level,” Freeman said.

Referring to local opposition to solar projects, Freeman said: “Farm work isn’t particularly sexy. Young people are leaving, the economics of being a farmer are not good,” he said. “But rent payments from solar or wind can make the economics work.”

Fyrciak said: “Ultimately, this is a business transaction for the farmer. It’s private property” and farmers should be able to make decisions about their land.

This article is a collaboration between CNS, the Detroit Free Press, the Michigan State University School of Journalism and the American Communities Project to tell the stories of voters, their experiences and political motivations in communities across the state.