Pavagada Solar Park, one of the world’s largest utility-scale solar installations, has expanded renewable electricity generation but also highlighted significant challenges. Its large land footprint replaced farmland and commons, reducing cultivated area and grazing land, with water scarcity for panel cleaning competing with local needs. Employment benefits have been limited and uneven, particularly disadvantaging landless workers and women, while long leases and altered ecosystems raise livelihood and ecological concerns. In contrast, decentralized solar (rooftop and agrivoltaics) supports local energy access without extensive land use, preserves agricultural activity, and more directly engages communities in sustainable energy transitions.