All around the world, big solar and wind projects are being rejected. From rural England to the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, local communities are telling alt-energy developers to take their projects and put them where the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. As I have documented in the Renewable Rejection Database, there have been at least 639 rejections or restrictions of wind or solar projects in the U.S. alone since 2015.
Given the vast sums at stake, it’s not surprising that lobbyists for the wind and solar sectors are pushing measures that strip local communities of their zoning authority and hand that authority to state bureaucrats. In fact, four heavily Democratic states, New York, California, Michigan and Illinois, have recently passed measures that do precisely that. But before delving further into what’s happening across the U.S., here’s a quick roundup of what’s happening overseas.