The company behind the proposed Persimmon Energy Center has research supporting its position. So do opponents. We pulled the studies underneath both claims — including newer nationwide research involving millions of property sales.

There is now a fight over what could happen to the value of homes surrounding the proposed Persimmon Energy Center north of Moss Bluff.

And unlike some of the arguments surrounding the project, this one comes with paperwork.

State Rep. Brett Geymann has been pointing residents toward an LSU Center for Energy Studies review that found utility-scale solar projects have been associated with reductions in nearby residential property values.

Orion Renewable Energy Group has pushed back.

At a meeting with Moss Bluff residents this week, Orion representative Alicia Wheeler told KPLC that the LSU document wasn't an original study of an operating Louisiana solar project.

She's right.

It was a literature review.

Then Wheeler made a more specific claim.

She said LSU reviewed six previous studies and determined that solar projects in rural areas had “no direct impact” on property values.

That would be reassuring for people living around Persimmon.

There is just one problem.

That's not what the LSU report says.

So we pulled it.

Then we pulled the research underneath it.

Then we found research commissioned for Orion itself.

And then we found a much larger nationwide study published after LSU completed its review.

There is legitimate disagreement in this research.

But there is also considerably more evidence of residential property-value risk than Orion's description of the LSU report would suggest.

Geymann asked LSU to look into this

That should be disclosed first.

The LSU review wasn't an unsolicited warning about solar development.

On Aug. 22, 2024, the Louisiana House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and Rural Development and the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment met to receive information about solar development on agricultural land and other aspects of solar-energy development.

The meeting was held pursuant to House Study Request No. 2 of the 2024 Regular Session.

During that meeting, Geymann, then chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment, asked the LSU Center for Energy Studies to conduct a literature search on the potential effect of utility-scale solar development on adjacent property values.

LSU Executive Director and Associate Research Professor Greg Upton and LSU economics graduate student Sarang Talpur produced the resulting five-page review.

Geymann is now one of the most vocal elected opponents of Persimmon.

That's relevant.

It means the politician currently citing this document is also the politician who asked LSU to prepare it.

But Geymann didn't conduct the underlying studies.

LSU didn't conduct them either.

Researchers elsewhere did.

So rather than deciding whether to trust Geymann, we went farther down the chain.

LSU's conclusion isn't particularly difficult to find

The report is five pages long.

And its conclusion is unusually direct.

LSU wrote that empirical research suggests utility-scale solar development has the potential to reduce housing values for homes within approximately half a mile of the facilities.

The range LSU gives is 1.5% to 6.9%.

Then LSU addressed rural housing specifically.

It concluded that studies analyzing rural housing values found utility-scale solar associated with reductions of 2.5% to 5.8%.

That's LSU's conclusion.

Not Geymann's interpretation of it.

And that is difficult to reconcile with Orion's statement to KPLC that the review determined projects in rural areas had no direct impact on those properties.

LSU wrote the opposite.

The rural finding came from actual home sales

One of the studies LSU reviewed was published in Energy Economics in 2023 by Vasundhara Gaur and Corey Lang.

The researchers examined utility-scale solar development in Massachusetts and Rhode Island using residential property sales.

Their primary sample included 282 solar installations, 11,292 housing transactions within 0.6 miles of those installations and 95,999 transactions between 0.6 and two miles.

Across different model specifications, houses within 0.6 miles experienced estimated reductions of approximately 1.5% to 3.6% following construction of a solar array.

Then the researchers separated the results by previous land use and location.

That's where things become especially relevant to the argument happening in Calcasieu Parish.

They found the average negative effect was largely driven by projects developed on farm and forest land and in rural areas.

For properties near solar installations in rural locations, their estimated decrease was 2.5% to 5.8% after construction.

The researchers specifically discussed the combination of the solar development itself with the loss of open space and rural character.

That doesn't mean a house north of Moss Bluff will lose 5.8% of its value if Persimmon gets built.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island aren't Calcasieu Parish.

It means the claim that this research found no effect in rural areas doesn't survive contact with the paper being discussed.

Another study looked at 1.8 million transactions

LSU also reviewed a substantially larger American study published in Energy Policy in 2023.

Researchers examined more than 1,500 large-scale photovoltaic projects and more than 1.8 million home transactions across California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and New Jersey.

Homes within half a mile of a large-scale solar project experienced an average estimated price reduction of 1.5% compared with homes two to four miles away.

The effect wasn't universal.

That's important.

Researchers couldn't measure a statistically significant effect beyond one mile, and results differed according to location and project characteristics.

But rural properties weren't the reassuring exception Orion's public statement suggests.

The researchers found measurable effects particularly among rural homes, larger solar projects and projects constructed on agricultural land.

LSU's summary table reports a 4.2% reduction within half a mile for the rural estimate from this study.

There is a pattern beginning to form here.

It isn't:

Solar farm = every nearby house loses value.

The literature is more complicated than that.

But it also isn't:

Rural solar = no effect.

Where Geymann's “7%” comes from

Geymann has publicly said the research reviewed by LSU found property-value reductions approaching 7%.

That's essentially accurate, with an important qualification.

The number in LSU's report is 6.9%.

It came from research by Will Georgic, David Wolf, Goran Skosples and Robert Gitter examining properties between Tampa Bay and Orlando.

The study estimated a 6.9% reduction, or $14,903, for properties within 750 meters — roughly half a mile — of an operating solar farm.

LSU describes that decrease as statistically significant.

Rounding 6.9% to “up to 7%” is a fair description of that result.

What would not be fair is turning it into:

Persimmon will lower your home's value by 7%.

LSU doesn't say that.

The Florida study doesn't say that.

No study we found can tell a homeowner on Dunn Ferry Road exactly what Persimmon would do to the value of that particular house.

Geymann's broader political rhetoric makes his position on Persimmon obvious.

But on the narrower factual question — whether LSU reviewed research finding residential property-value reductions approaching 7% — the document supports him.

There was also a study that found no direct effect

This part deserves attention because it may help explain some of the confusion.

LSU reviewed a North Carolina study by Nino Abashidze and Laura Taylor that found no direct positive or negative spillover effect from nearby utility-scale solar development.

But LSU puts an important warning directly underneath that finding.

That analysis did not study residential houses.

It studied agricultural land.

The researchers did identify an indirect signaling effect: agricultural land near transmission infrastructure could increase in value after a solar farm was constructed nearby, potentially because the development signaled the possibility of future solar lease income.

That's a very different question from whether the value of a nearby house changes.

And, as newer research would later show, residential property and undeveloped land can move in opposite directions around the same kind of project.

Orion has research too

Orion's position isn't simply corporate reassurance unsupported by research.

We found a 2020 property-value impact study prepared by CohnReznick for Orion Renewable Energy Group.

The study examined eight existing solar facilities in Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina and Virginia.

A subsequent regulatory filing summarizing that analysis says CohnReznick compared 24 sales of properties adjoining solar facilities with 81 sales in control areas without solar facilities.

The analysis reported no measurable and consistent difference in property values associated with the presence of the solar facilities.

It also included two before-and-after analyses comparing sales before announcement of solar development with sales after project completion and reported no measurable impact.

That's evidence.

It belongs in this story.

It also helps explain why Orion may be comfortable arguing that solar development doesn't necessarily hurt neighboring property values.

But it isn't the only evidence available.

And since 2020, the research has gotten considerably larger.

Then researchers looked nationwide

LSU published its review in August 2024.

Research didn't stop there.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2025 assembled a nationwide dataset containing approximately 8.8 million property sales and 3,699 large-scale solar sites across the United States.

For its analysis of residential properties under five acres, researchers used approximately 8.3 million transactions.

Their conclusion deserves attention in Calcasieu Parish.

Large-scale solar installations were associated with lower nearby residential property values while simultaneously increasing nearby agricultural and vacant land values.

For residential properties under five acres, researchers estimated an average reduction of approximately 4.8% within three miles.

The effect was strongest closest to the solar facility and diminished with distance.

Within half a mile, the models estimated reductions of up to approximately 7.2% for homes without a solar facility in their viewshed and 7.9% for homes with one visible.

The researchers did not conclude that visibility itself significantly amplified the effect. Their analysis instead identified proximity as the primary driver.

Beyond three miles, the estimated proximity and visibility effects became statistically indistinguishable from zero.

This isn't a direct replication of CohnReznick's Orion-commissioned study.

The methodologies, datasets and research questions are different, so simply comparing sample sizes doesn't decide which analysis is “right.”

But it gives homeowners and parish officials another large body of evidence that didn't exist when Orion's CohnReznick report was prepared in 2020.

And its residential finding isn't zero.

Something else happened to the land

The same nationwide study found something particularly interesting for anyone following Persimmon as a real-estate story.

While nearby residential values declined, agricultural and vacant land within two miles increased in value by an estimated 19.4%.

At first glance, those findings seem contradictory.

They aren't.

A house and a tract of developable land aren't necessarily being purchased for the same reason.

Someone buying a rural residence may be paying for privacy, woods, open space and rural character.

Someone buying acreage may be paying for what can be done with it.

A nearby solar development can potentially reduce residential amenity while increasing the development or lease potential attached to surrounding land.

The researchers found evidence of both effects.

They also examined homes sitting on more than five acres.

For those large-lot residential properties, the estimated negative residential effect and positive land-value effect appeared to offset each other. The overall nearby effect was small and statistically insignificant across the distance ranges they studied.

That finding is particularly important in a rural market.

It also makes blanket claims about “property values” almost useless.

Which property?

A house on a small residential parcel?

A house on ten acres?

Vacant timberland?

Agricultural acreage with potential energy-development value?

The answer can change depending on what is being sold and who wants to buy it.

Persimmon makes the distance question difficult to ignore

Now bring the research back to North Calcasieu.

Orion's proposed Persimmon Energy Center would cover roughly 4,700 acres.

The company says the project would retain approximately 50 feet of existing trees and growth along adjacent roads and property lines as a visual screening buffer and incorporate additional landscaping.

Orion has also proposed something else.

Money for the neighbors.

Its Solar Neighbor Program would make recurring annual payments to nonparticipating residences located within one-third of a mile of the project.

According to Orion, those payments would begin when construction starts, continue annually for the life of the project, increase 30% every 10 years and remain with the property for future owners.

Participation is voluntary, and Orion says participants would have no obligation to the project.

That program is not proof Orion expects those houses to lose value.

There are plenty of reasons a developer might voluntarily provide benefits to the people living closest to a major project.

But the distance Orion chose is worth noticing because distance is one of the most consistent variables in the property-value research.

The strongest negative residential estimates repeatedly appear closest to solar facilities.

One-third of a mile sits inside the half-mile and 0.6-mile ranges where several studies identified measurable effects.

That gives us a much better question than asking whether solar farms hurt property values everywhere.

How many nonparticipating homes would sit inside the distance bands where researchers have identified effects?

Within one-third of a mile.

Within half a mile.

Within 0.6 miles.

Within one mile.

We don't have that count yet.

When Orion files a detailed site plan with Calcasieu Parish, we should be able to get much closer.

The site plan will make this a local real-estate question

Orion told KPLC it plans to file for a special exception and submit a permit application for Persimmon to Calcasieu Parish by the end of the year.

That filing should give the public something considerably more useful than competing statements about solar development generally.

It should give us project boundaries.

Panel locations.

Setbacks.

Roads.

Transmission infrastructure.

Nearby parcels.

Nearby houses.

Once those exist on a map, the academic literature can be applied much more intelligently to the actual properties surrounding Persimmon.

Not to predict exactly how much each house will gain or lose.

To identify which properties fall inside the distances where the research says the question deserves closer examination.

So who is misrepresenting the research?

We started with that question because Geymann is clearly not a neutral observer.

He opposes Persimmon.

He requested the LSU literature review.

He has become one of the most visible political voices against large solar development in this part of Louisiana.

That makes scrutinizing his use of the research fair game.

We did.

On the property-value claims examined here, the underlying documentation substantially supports him.

LSU did review research finding negative residential effects near utility-scale solar.

It did report estimates approaching 7%.

And its conclusion specifically says studies examining rural housing found 2.5% to 5.8% reductions associated with utility-scale solar.

None of that proves Persimmon will reduce surrounding property values.

Orion has evidence supporting a different conclusion too.

That's legitimate.

Put Orion's study on the table.

Put LSU's literature review beside it.

Put the peer-reviewed papers LSU relied upon beside that.

Then add the nationwide research published afterward.

Let homeowners see the evidence for themselves.

What doesn't hold up is the claim that LSU's review determined rural solar projects had no direct impact on property values.

That isn't what LSU wrote.

There is evidence of risk

Nobody can responsibly tell a homeowner north of Moss Bluff today that Persimmon will knock 5%, 7% or any other exact percentage off the value of their house.

There are too many variables we don't know yet.

But the opposite claim has a problem too.

There is evidence that proximity to utility-scale solar can negatively affect residential property values.

There is peer-reviewed evidence.

There is evidence specifically involving rural properties.

There is evidence involving projects built on farm and forest land.

And since LSU prepared its review, there is nationwide research involving millions of property transactions finding a negative residential effect that becomes stronger closer to a solar facility.

That doesn't tell us what a particular house north of Moss Bluff will sell for after Persimmon.

It does tell us the concern isn't imaginary.

That's enough evidence for homeowners to ask hard questions.

And it's enough evidence for Calcasieu Parish officials to take the property-value issue seriously when Persimmon eventually comes before them.

The next useful document isn't another Facebook post.

It isn't another company presentation either.

It's the site plan.

When Orion files it, we'll know where the project actually goes.

Then we can count the houses.

Sources & Records

LSU Center for Energy Studies — “Literature Review on the Impact of Utility-Scale Solar on Housing Prices,” Greg Upton and Sarang Talpur, August 2024
Five-page literature review prepared following Brett Geymann's request to LSU. Includes the report's overall 1.5%–6.9% range and its conclusion concerning 2.5%–5.8% reductions in studies specifically examining rural housing.

KPLC — “Orion Renewable Energy meets with Moss Bluff residents over proposed 4,700-acre solar farm,” Sept. 11, 2026
Reports Alicia Wheeler's characterization of the LSU review and Orion's plan to file for a special exception and permit by the end of the year.

Gaur & Lang — “House of the Rising Sun: The Effect of Utility-Scale Solar Arrays on Housing Prices,” Energy Economics, 2023
Difference-in-differences and repeat-sales research examining 282 solar installations. Reports negative average effects within 0.6 miles and larger effects associated with rural locations and development on farm and forest land.

Elmallah et al. — “Shedding Light on Large-Scale Solar Impacts: An Analysis of Property Values and Proximity to Photovoltaics Across Six U.S. States,” Energy Policy, 2023
Analysis of more than 1,500 large-scale photovoltaic projects and more than 1.8 million home transactions. Reports an average 1.5% reduction within half a mile, with measurable effects concentrated in certain circumstances including rural homes, agricultural sites and larger projects.

Georgic et al. — “Too Close to the Sun: Solar Farms' Impact on Housing Prices at Subtropical Latitudes,” Applied Economics Letters, 2024
Central Florida research summarized by LSU as finding a 6.9% reduction for properties within 750 meters of an operating solar farm.

Abashidze & Taylor — “Utility-Scale Solar Farms and Agricultural Land Values,” Land Economics, 2023
Study of agricultural land rather than residential houses. Found no direct positive or negative spillover on agricultural land values while identifying an indirect signaling effect involving nearby transmission infrastructure.

CohnReznick — “Property Value Impact Study: Adjacent Property Values Solar Impact Study, A Study of Eight Existing Solar Facilities,” prepared for Orion Renewable Energy Group, 2020
A subsequent regulatory filing summarizes the analysis as comparing 24 adjoining-property sales with 81 control-area sales and reporting no measurable and consistent difference attributable to the solar facilities.

“Impact of Large-Scale Solar on Property Values in the United States: Diverse Effects and Causal Mechanisms,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025
Nationwide research using approximately 8.8 million property sales and 3,699 large-scale solar sites. Found lower nearby residential values, higher agricultural and vacant land values, and statistically insignificant overall effects for large-lot homes.

Persimmon Energy Project — Orion Renewable Energy Group
Orion's current project materials describing Persimmon, visual screening practices, community benefits and the Solar Neighbor Program.

About the Author

I’m Dalton Barron, a licensed real estate agent serving Southwest Louisiana.

I spend a lot of time looking at real estate that never makes it into a listing description: ownership records, land assemblages, development plans, servitudes, zoning, infrastructure and the transactions happening before a project becomes public knowledge.

That same work carries over to my clients.

If you're trying to understand a piece of property, what it's worth, what is happening around it, or what the records actually say, bring me the address or parcel. I'll dig into it.

Buying or selling isn't a requirement.

Sometimes you just need somebody willing to look past the listing and into the file.

Dalton Barron
Real Broker, LLC
C. 337.764.1754
O. 855.450.0442
Licensed by the LREC
Main Office: Baton Rouge, LA

About 337.NEWS

337.NEWS is an independent Southwest Louisiana publication built around a simple idea: some local stories deserve more than the first answer.**

We follow land, money, development, public records, business and local government—especially when the pieces don't quite fit together at first glance.

Sometimes that means reading the deed. Sometimes it means finding the company behind the company, tracing who controls the land, or going back through years of records to understand what is happening now.

We don't need every story to become a scandal.

We just want to know what the record actually says.

Read the document yourself.

The LSU review at the center of this dispute is only five pages long. We've embedded the complete document below so you don't have to rely on our interpretation, Orion's interpretation or Rep. Geymann's.

Join 337.news below to keep following the Persimmon investigation. The original LSU report is immediately beneath the signup.

https://www.lsu.edu/ces/publications/2024/solar_energy_and_housing_prices_lit_review_aug_30_2024.pdf