The data center backlash is coming for solar

Silicon Valley has data center fever, which has most Americans feverish.

71% of Americans are opposed to a data center being built in their community. 77% believe that the AI buildout will increase the cost of electricity, a fear compounded by the 6% inflation in electricity costs over the past year. And 71% feel that the costs of the data center buildout outweigh the benefits.

But that concern is spilling over into other industries. As opposition to data centers mount, solar energy projects are seeing slowdowns in the same municipalities. Whether they intend to or not, data center protestors, driven by environmental concerns and rate hikes, are fighting some of the very structures that could mitigate climate change and bring down energy costs.

How data centers affect solar

“It’s all getting lumped into one,” a developer at a 50 GW-pipeline solar company told Spark AI. “It's some of the same people that have been mad about solar for years. And now they're picking up steam because there's a lot more people that don't like data centers, for completely independent reasons. It's all snowballing.”

These local protests have real effect. Hundreds of solar projects are stopped every year by protestors at town halls, signs at construction sites, and online petitions. And even though some of these protestors are motivated by electricity costs and environmental damage, their work is stopping solar construction that could lower rates and decrease American reliance on fossil fuels.

Of course, the solar decline isn’t entirely because of data centers. The biggest drop begins in early 2025 as the Trump administration rolled back the Inflation Reduction Act’s credits for solar projects. During the final two years of the Biden administration, 90% of solar projects were approved, but that rate fell to 76% after Trump retook office.

But the data center push has accelerated that trend. Approvals of data center builds and solar projects fall in tandem, even when accounting for a county’s prior approval history and political lean¹ . Even after 2025, many blue states have continued providing solar credits, but those credits haven’t mitigated the drop-off. The data confirms what developers are saying: Locals see infrastructure projects as a monolith, whether data centers or solar projects, and once a county turns skeptical, the skepticism doesn't stay targeted.

Campbell County, Virginia

Campbell County joined the solar world with the launch of Altavista Solar Farm in 2021, its first photovoltaic energy source. The project was built under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Meta to provide 80 MW to the hyperscaler and millions of dollars to the local community. A year later, Appalachian Power followed suit with a 15 MW site in Rustburg. Several other projects filed for permits as well: the infrastructure momentum was building.

The turn came in 2025. Mesh Capital, probably representing a tech giant, filed for a permit for three data centers covering 57 acres. The company likely thought little of the move; a 3-hour drive south of Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia, Campbell seemed like a reliable spot for construction, with few major cities and no special use permit requirement.

What they didn’t expect was the locals. Despite the center getting little publicity, residents took notice. “Do we as Campbell County citizens want the government to be able to put data centers wherever they want to?” Ashby Smith, a nearby property owner, asked ABC 13 News. “I don't think so.”

Another neighbor sounded the alarm: “I'd like to appeal to every citizen in every district of Campbell County,” Bill Carson said. “I would ask you to please contact your supervisor and ask him to vote 'no' on this proposal. Once the door is opened, once they build a data center here, it'll be your community next.”

Locals obliged. They took to Facebook, petitions, and local news to argue against the construction. In October, the board voted 5-2 to deny the permit. And last month, they unanimously tightened regulations to limit further projects.

The frustration didn’t hold itself to AI. “We need our leaders to care about the people who live in Campbell County, not just the money involved,” one resident wrote on Facebook. “Data Center, Solar Farms… What are these 3 [county] leaders thinking?”

Since then, all projects, no matter how unrelated, have become controversial in Campbell County. A 3 MW solar project was rejected this January after a contentious town hall. Residents complain on Facebook about the “numerous solar farms dotted across our beautiful ag land.” And a transmission line connecting the state has fallen into the controversy and ground to a halt.

How developers respond

Developers are taking notice. One community solar developer told Spark that “following data center development is becoming critical” for electricity companies. “We are now getting questions whenever there’s a solar project: ‘Where's the data center? That means there must be a data center lurking somewhere behind the curtain.’ It's becoming a big factor in community sentiment.”

She paused, and then added, “Where there’s anti-data center sentiment, there’s anti-solar.”

Working on energy infrastructure or data centers? At Spark, we've built software to track local opposition, read zoning codes, identify red flags early, and build paths to permits. Book a chat with us to see why we’re trusted by NextEra, Intersect, and other industry leaders.

Thumbnail source: WCPO

1  OLS regression of county-year solar approval rates on DC approval rates, controlling for prior solar approval history and year fixed effects (2021–2026). Coefficient on DC approval rate: +0.29 (p<0.01), indicating that a 10-percentage-point decrease in DC approvals within a county is associated with a 2.9-percentage-point decrease in solar approvals in the same county and year. Analysis by Spark AI.