Solar Farm Rejected Amid Fears It Will ‘Suck Up The Sun’s Energy’

A town council in North Carolina rejected plans to rezone land for a solar farm after residents voiced fears it would cause cancer, stop plants from growing and suck up all the energy from the sun.

Two citizens reportedly made the allegations at a Woodland Town Council meeting in Northampton County, northeastern North Carolina, on Wednesday.

Bobby Mann said the farm would “suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not come to Woodland,” the Roanoke-Chowan Herald-News reports.

Retired science teacher Jane Mann feared the proposed solar ranch could hinder photosynthesis — the process of converting light energy from the sun into chemical energy for fuel — in the area and stop plants from growing.

She added that no one could tell her solar panels didn’t cause cancer.

Other residents feared the effect it would have on the price of their homes.

Councilors were voting on whether to redefine agriculturally designated land off U.S. Highway 258 for manufacturing. 

Strata Solar Company representative Brent Niemann told the meeting the only sunlight used would be that which fell on the panels directly. “The panels don’t draw additional sunlight,” he said.

He told councilors that the farm would have no effect on property prices and promised that no toxic substances would be kept on site.

But Woodland Town Council turned down the proposal, effectively stopping the company from building the planned renewable energy ranch. The council later voted to put a moratorium on future solar farms in the area, the Herald-News reports.

Solar Power World Online ranks North Carolina  fourth in the U.S. for installed solar power capacity, with 161 companies employing 3,100 people in the industry.