Electricity has turned into one of the most important commodities in the [Midwest] region, with utility rates increasing in recent years due to demand from datacenters, rising utility charges and the war on Iran, which has driven gas pump prices to $5 a gallon locally.
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“What it’s done is remind people why energy independence matters,” [says Stetson Tchividjian, managing director of D3Energy] of how the rise of solar applications in the midwest is simultaneously happening when 20% of the world’s oil consumption is blocked in the strait of Hormuz.
“Domestic generation that isn’t exposed to a single geopolitical event is more valuable, not less, in this kind of environment. Solar is a key cog in that wheel.”
All this is happening in the heart of the eastern corn belt where farmers, like elsewhere, are struggling to make a profit from growing crops.
For landowners and farmers, solar leases have become a route to guaranteed income at a time when the Trump administration’s tariffs regime is destroying demand for US agricultural products such as soybeans in China and beyond.
Still, solar faces reputational challenges in rural America.
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Fossil fuel companies have spent millions of dollars on scare and disinformation campaigns that have resulted in city and county authorities banning large-scale solar farms from being constructed on agricultural land across the region. …
Some rural residents oppose solar farms due to their alleged role in inflating the price of agricultural land for crop growers and farmers.
But others disagree.
