| North Carolina’s utility-scale solar farms are using 40,284 acres, less than half of 1% of the state’s farmland, according to a new N.C. Sustainable Energy Association report.
The group says that when it comes to farmland loss, suburban development is a far larger contributor. Solar-industry advocates say the information suggests there is ample opportunity for more solar installations.
The new report comes about a year after industry interests fended off a move by N.C. Rep Jimmy Dixon to block the development of new solar farms. He has complained that solar arrays are using “the best farmland in the state.”
House Bill 729 would have forbidden the N.C. Utilities Commission from allowing new arrays on land currently being cultivated.
The Duplin County Republican is one of North Carolina’s most powerful farm-county legislators. The state Agriculture Department has also advocated for restrictions on solar projects.
But lobbyists, including Alex Miller and former state Sen. Jim Perry, were able to marshal property-rights arguments against the bill, which Dixon later downsized into a phase-out of property tax breaks for solar development.
The bill stalled in committee and never made it out of the House.
All told, 733 solar arrays capable of generating more than 1 megawatt of power are using 40,284 acres, the group says.
By comparison, the state’s farmers are cultivating crops on 4.3 million acres. They’re using another 2.5 million as pasture or to grow hay. There’s also just under 4.2 million acres covered by evergreen forests. The group counts all three uses as agricultural land.
The total acreage devoted to solar arrays is about 2,000 acres more than in 2022, the Sustainable Energy Association said. It says solar-lease rates of $750 to $1,400 per acre per year can be more lucrative than growing crops like barley, oats or hay.
Large-lot developments, golf courses and parks occupy about 8.2% of the state’s farmland and low-intensity single-family housing uses another 4.1%.
According to federal figures, the state’s dominant crops, economically, are soybeans (worth $634.2 million as of 2024), tobacco ($469.9 million), corn (almost $351.0 million) and sweetpotatoes ($509.0 million).
Barley and oats added $3.8 million and $2.5 million to the state’s farm output in that report.
North Carolina’s overall land area is 31.5 million acres. |
