Shining a light on solar panel regulations in Missouri

Solar energy is becoming a popular way of reducing the cost of electricity in Missouri. 

Missouri has a multitude of solar farms, but Republican Representative Mike Haffner of Pleasant Hill wants to look at how they are regulated. 

The co-chair of the state’s Joint Committee on Agriculture expresses concern that they are negatively affecting Missouri farmers…  

According to Representative Mike Haffner:  “We want to make sure that when these solar panels reach the end of their life, their efficiency is no longer practical, they’re not producing electricity, that there’s a place that they can be put into a landfill that is environmentally safe.” 

Haffner says solar energy contracts do not take the farmer’s interest into consideration when the farm is no longer used for solar purposes. 

He says that solar farms are protected by law, but if the company folds, the farmers are going to be stuck with the concrete and solar panels, and will have no way of returning it back for agricultural purposes.