Letter to the Editor: Put Solar Panels Where They Belong

To the Editor:

Solar farms are not farms.

A farm grows corn, soybeans, livestock and food for families. Covering productive farmland with industrial solar panels does not make it agriculture just because someone calls it a “solar farm.”

If solar panels are so important, put them where they belong: on rooftops, over parking lots, on brownfields, on landfills or in wide-open desert areas where they do not take prime farmland out of production. Sangamon County should not be expected to sacrifice its rural character and agricultural land so developers can make money off projects that do not belong here.

Supporters like to say wind and solar will solve our energy problems, but people should ask why their power bills keep going up. Wind and solar cannot provide dependable power every hour of every day on their own. When the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, the grid still needs reliable backup power from sources such as natural gas, coal or nuclear energy.

That means families are paying for a more complicated system while being told it is progress. Meanwhile, farmland is being turned into fenced-in industrial sites.

Sangamon County should protect its farmland.

William D. Smith, Auburn