West Greenwich Residents Frustrated With Solar Farm: Report

WEST GREENWICH, RI — Neighbors of the Hopkins Hill solar farm allege that developers presented the project as one thing, and then delivered something else.

WPRI-TV's Target 12 team reports that Turning Point Energy told town officials in 2018 that their industrial-scale solar plant would only be visible from an airplane. Instead, neighbors say the project is visible from streets and surrounding properties.

Turning Point Energy was hit with stop-work orders in 2019 for cutting trees in a buffer zone and for erosion control infractions. Company executive Adam Beal defended the company's actions in his comments to WPRI, and said the town signed off on the project. He said the company planted additional trees.

Town administrator Kevin Breene said part of the problem was that in 2018, West Greenwich had not yet drafted a solar ordinance with strict rules.

Read more at WPRI