Streamline Solar Development
Issue Briefing
Learn (just enough) about this no-brainer solution to do something about it.
Clear Ask to Policymakers:
States should streamline the siting process for grid-scale solar, so communities and developers can move popular projects forward.
THE PROBLEM
A rapidly accelerating patchwork of local laws is blocking solar development.
Demand for electricity in America is skyrocketing and will soon outstrip supply. It’s projected to increase nearly 16% by 2029, after two decades of nearly zero growth. If we fail to meet demand, we’ll face even steeper utility bills, there will be more blackouts and brownouts, and the U.S. will be at a geopolitical disadvantage in the AI race.
Grid-scale solar is necessary to meet our energy needs and our global decarbonization goals. We’re talking about big solar farms that power tens of thousands of households, built primarily in rural or suburban areas. And luckily, solar is cheap, fast to build, and popular.
And unfortunately, this trend is only getting worse:
Widespread: 15% of counties have effectively banned new grid-scale wind, solar, or both.
Accelerating: Of the 116 counties implementing bans or restrictions on grid-scale solar, half did so in 2023 alone. Clean energy is being banned faster than it’s being built!
So why aren’t we building more solar?
🙅♂️ One of the biggest causes of delays and cancellations among clean energy projects is local opposition.
📈 More specifically, it’s the proliferation of local laws, usually at the county level, that make it functionally impossible – or even outright illegal – to build new solar farms.
😵💫 Even where solar isn’t banned, developers are forced to navigate a confusing patchwork of state and local rules—making it harder to plan, invest, and build at the pace we need. It’s a costly, time-consuming barrier that slows down progress, even in communities that want solar.
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The local laws that ban solar development often do so by co-opting the siting process – or the bureaucratic rules that govern how projects get built. These are laws, often passed by local governments, that lay out precise terms under which projects can be approved for construction. How high can the panels reach? How far from neighboring properties must they be? How much noise are they allowed to make? Deep dive on the details of “pro-solar” siting policy below.
These laws are typically passed at the county level and often take the form of zoning or land-use regulations. This is the bread and butter of local government: land is divided into zones – like agricultural, residential, commercial, or industrial – with specific rules for what activity and development is allowed in which tracts.
The simplest bans might say, “Solar development is not permitted in any zone.” The more creative bans might say, “Solar development is only allowed in industrial zones” – when there’s almost no land with that zoning designation. The most creative bans might say, “Solar development is allowed in these zones, but only if they meet certain requirements,” with requirements so onerous they functionally preclude development.
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When it comes to local solar restrictions, a small but vocal group is shaping policy—simply by showing up. Misinformation spreads fast in local Facebook groups, often fomented by national groups linked to fossil fuel interests, and it turns into real-world opposition at town halls and county commission meetings. Some resistance is rooted in valid concerns about land use and distrust of developers, but much of it is manufactured to stall progress. Dive deep on the misinformiation-fueled opposition below.
A SOLUTION
States should streamline the siting process.
The siting process is the bureaucratic set of rules that govern how projects get built. They include things like how high can the panels reach? How far from neighboring properties must they be? How much noise are they allowed to make? In order to get permission to build, receive permits, etc., developers must comply with the applicable siting standards.
Often, these siting rules are made at the county level. Some state governments also play a role in siting, usually in tandem with the local government (aka more paperwork). No matter how your state does it, siting laws are 1) unnecessarily complicated, 2) pose significant administrative “drag” to developers, and 3) are being easily hijacked by a small minority of organized opponents.
Because of these issues, paired with the urgent need to bring more energy online, a number of states have passed legislation to streamline the solar siting process. The goals are:
No arbitrary bans or restrictions on solar
Projects get to yes (or no!) faster
Meaningful opportunities for local input
As siting regimes are different in each state, so too are the reforms. There’s no one-size-fits-all policy solution, but there are a few recent case studies that other states can replicate:
State-wide standards for local siting: In 2023, Illinois passed HB 4412, preserving local siting authority, but instituting state-wide standards that enable responsible solar development.
State backstop siting authority: In 2023, Michigan passed HB 5120, creating a new siting pathway within the state’s Public Service Commission for grid-scale renewable energy projects – if local laws are overly restrictive, or if the project is denied at the local level.
Technical assistance for local governments: In 2024,Colorado passed SB 212, providing resources to local governments to assess, site, and permit grid-scale renewable energy, and setting best practices around wildlife and land impacts.
OUR ROLE
What can we do about it?
As constituents, our job is to:
Elevate urgent climate and energy solutions among the many competing priorities of our elected officials.
If there is active legislation in our state, enthusiastically support or oppose it (find out below).
Always make clear that we expect clean, reliable energy.
Siting reform is wonky and sometimes contentious. The policies are passed via big, important pieces of legislation that take years to get over the finish line. The ambitious scope of this policy means we need to keep a few things in mind:
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None of the recent siting reforms were enacted in just one session – especially when many state legislatures only officially convene to pass laws for a few months out of the year. No matter if your state legislature is in session (find out below!), advocacy is necessary to make these solutions a reality.
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You don’t need to be an expert. Just focus on the basics: We need to get more solar built ASAP, and as a constituent, you support siting reform as a key lever to make that happen. If you can express that much, plus pass along expert information (provided for you in this briefing and in every Climate Changemakers playbook template), you will be an effective advocate. The strategy is to pile on all kinds of support for building grid-scale solar to give lawmakers “political permission” to take on these wonky reforms.
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Passing and implementing legislation takes years, especially on such wonky and consequential topics as siting reform. How do we start moving the needle now?
👏 Get helpful resources circulating among elected officials.
👏 Help secure co-sponsorships or votes on legislation – or commitments to co-sponsor in the next legislative session.
👏Connect enthusiastic lawmakers with experts
👏 Follow up to get real answers (Circling back! Bumping to the top of your inbox!). A friendly nudge applies pressure to hold them accountable, and the answer helps us better understand our state’s policy landscapes to become ever more productive advocates
State-by-state status: Siting reform is a “hot topic” in state legislatures across the country. Most have already been thinking, talking, and/or actively legislating on solar siting reforms in the last 5 years, as rising electricity demand from AI has become an increasingly urgent priority.
The state-by-state table embedded below shows relevant bills introduced in your state, the recommended “asks” to include in your outreach, whether your state is currently in session, and a little background on how siting decisions typically work in your state. It’s everything you need to be an effective messenger on this issue. For an even deeper dive on how your state sites solar, check out this report from our partner, Clean Tomorrow.
👇 Use this embedded tool to learn about solar siting legislation in your state.
What’s happening in your state (below!) informs how to tailor your outreach with a “clear ask” to each of your policymakers.
Not seeing this spreadsheet? Click here!STOP! You know enough to take meaningful action.
Curious and want to learn more? Cool, scroll on!
Quick links to navigate this Issue Briefing (or just keep scrolling!)
Talking Points | Why Solar | Good Regulations | Opposition | Siting 101 | Rooftop Solar | What’s a Megawatt? | Policymaker Resources | Learn even more
Top Talking Points
Choose the framing that resonates best with your policymaker. Learn more about meeting your rep where they are here.
I support streamlining the siting process for grid-scale solar because it…
📈 …helps meet rapidly rising energy demand. Today, solar is the cheapest and fastest form of energy to build, so we should be deploying as much of it as quickly as possible.
💰 …keeps utility bills from rising. If we can’t build solar, we’ll have to build more expensive sources of energy, like natural gas, which will raise rates for consumers.
🚧 …brings economic development to rural communities, via new tax revenue for county governments. These funds can be used for everything from local infrastructure to lowering taxes to funding school budgets. For example, in Georgetown, SC, a solar farm will generate over $20 million in tax revenue for the county.
🚜 …gives struggling farmers a lifeline, by allowing them to gain a new revenue stream. Solar revenue allows farmers to keep their land parcels intact, and even continue grazing livestock and growing crops around the solar panels.
🗳️ …is popular with voters. 75% of Americans are comfortable with a solar farm being developed in their community. This is true of Republican (66%), Independent (72%), Suburban (74%), and Rural (71%) Americans.
🏠 …protects private property rights. Every American has the right to do as they please with their private property, and local governments shouldn’t infringe – especially by targeting one specific use of that property. What’s next?
What if someone disagrees with me or shares disinformation? Instead of explaining exactly why they’re wrong, just present positive facts about grid-scale solar and siting reform, so they leave the conversation with a more complete and nuanced understanding. Check out this explainer from Greenlight America for more.
Reasons for people and policymakers to embrace solar development
1) Solar is popular — across ideologies.
An overwhelming majority of Americans (75%) support building clean energy in their communities. This is also true across political ideologies: Republicans (66%), Independents (72%), Suburban (74%), and Rural (71%) Americans (source). This accelerating pattern of restrictive local laws does not reflect public opinion—at all. We can change that.
2) Solar is cheap — basically the cheapest form of energy to build.
Even without federal subsidies, a new grid-scale solar farm remains cheaper to build than natural gas and other fossil fuels. Notice “Solar PV - Utility” costs between $38 - $78 per MWh, while “Gas Combined Cycle” costs $48 - $109 per MWh. Despite Congress’ functional repeal of federal tax credits for wind and solar in the 2025 Reconciliation bill, solar remains a smart, no-brainer energy source.
3) Solar is fast — basically the cheapest form of energy to build.
With electricity demand rising so rapidly, when we can get electrons onto the grid matters. A new solar farm takes less than 2 years to go from idea to reality, whereas the popular and (relatively) cheap combined cycle natural gas plant takes twice as long – around 4 years. This likely doesn’t even factor in the rapidly-growing, 5-year wait list for natural gas plant turbines, due to supply chain and manufacturing constraints.
What does good solar regulation look like:
Good grid-scale solar is thoughtfully placed, community-supported, and built to last. It powers thousands of homes with clean energy, brings steady tax revenue to local governments, and gives landowners a new income stream—all while protecting open space and working lands. With smart planning, solar can be a win for the grid, for communities, and for the climate.
When a county is updating their zoning rules to address solar development, there are several places where opponents (or even well-meaning but ill-informed decision-makers!) can sneak in ‘poison pills.’
Here are some examples:
Zones: Which zones should we allow solar development?
🙌 Recommended: Industrial, commercial, rural-residential, and agricultural zones
🙄 Poison Pill: Bans in any of the above zones.
Noise: How noisy will this solar farm be?
🙌 Recommended: Noise limits aren’t necessary at all!
🙄 Poison pill: Anything lower than 50 decibels, which is the sound of a refrigerator. (While the panels themselves are silent, the accompanying inverters that connect the farm to the power grid run at 45-50 decibels).
Height: How tall should we let these solar panels be?
🙌 Recommended: 20-25 feet. Solar panels are about 15-feet tall at full tilt, and are sometimes raised higher to allow farming and grazing underneath (a practice called agrivoltaics).
🙄 Poison pill: Less than 15 feet.
Setbacks: How far back from other property or buildings should this farm be?
🙌 Recommended: 50-100 feet from property lines, and 100-150 ft from buildings.
🙄 Poison pill: Anything bigger than 500 feet.
For a really great deep dive, check out Greenlight America: What makes a good local ordinance?
This infographic on setbacks is just one example of recommended vs. poison pill requirements—with real impacts. If a potential solar site can’t fit enough panels for the project to make financial sense, the developer may scrap it, or at most will build a smaller project with fewer benefits.
Where is solar opposition coming from?
The local restrictions on solar development are the result of a well-organized, civically-engaged minority. When the county commission holds its (dry, technical, and boring 3-hour) meeting on the new land ordinance (in the middle of the work day, to boot!), the only people motivated enough to show up are the well-organized opponents. When local decisions are directly influenced by those who show up, it’s easy to understand how passionate opponents have an outsized impact. If support for clean energy is a mile wide and an inch deep, then opposition is an inch wide and a mile deep.
🎙️ “These tend to be the most civically engaged people. On TikTok, a video might go viral about how great solar panels are, but if the people watching that video don't show up to the county commission meeting, then it doesn't really matter… What starts on Facebook quickly bleeds into town halls and county commission meetings.”
– Michael Thomas, Investigative Journalist on Volts episode
Some of it is legitimate: Histories of extraction, where companies develop the land and leave with the profits, leave communities skeptical of developers. Love and nostalgia for familiar landscapes make local residents resistant to change.
But some of the opposition is intentionally fomented by national organizations using misinformation and disinformation. Via local Facebook groups – yes, particularly on Facebook – and other online forums, ideas are shared like: solar panels are worse for the environment than fossil fuels, wind turbines kill birds, or clean energy projects tank property values (all false). What may appear to be neighbors looking out for their community, what’s driving these false stories is often nefarious—as has been extensively documented by USA Today, NPR, Floodlight, Volts, and more, the national groups behind anti-renewables disinformation are linked to fossil fuel funding.
This seemingly-grassroots organizing is actually dedicated, national organizations whose mission is to delay and block clean energy across the country. Sowing seemingly-grassroots opposition is a practice known as “astroturfing.” The arguments they use are rooted in mistrust and fear, two powerful drivers of human behavior.
What if we all just put solar panels on our roofs instead?
Some people – even well-meaning proponents of decarbonization – are concerned about how much land grid-scale solar uses. They argue that it isn’t necessary, and suggest that perhaps rooftop solar can supply our energy needs. Especially if it’s such an uphill battle to site and build these grid-scale developments!
However, rooftop solar alone won’t cut it. According to the Rewiring America Handbook, as we “electrify everything” from the housing stock to transportation to heavy industry, our electricity demand will increase 3-4x from our current 450 GW to 1500 - 1800 GW. Using solar, that kind of energy use has an associated land footprint of approximately 12 - 15 million acres, while our commercial and residential rooftops only have a collective area of 4.1 millions acres. The numbers are clear: there’s nowhere near enough surface area across America’s rooftops to deploy enough solar. We need grid-scale solutions, too.
Luckily, deploying grid-scale solar will take less space than many of our other current land uses. A study by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that decarbonizing 95% by 2035 and 100% by 2050 would only require solar development on 0.5% of the U.S. surface area. Better yet, there is more than enough land suitable for solar development, including contaminated land (think: landfills) or disturbed land (think: areas impacted by invasive species, quarries, etc). When you add in agricultural land, which can serve the dual use of generating power and growing food or grazing livestock, over half the contiguous U.S. surface area is suitable for grid-scale solar development.
Crash Course: What’s a megawatt?
A megawatt (MW) is a unit of power = the rate at which energy is used or produced.
To get a feel for it:
A microwave uses about 1,000 watts, or 1 kilowatt.
So 1 megawatt = 1,000 microwaves running at once = power for 168 average U.S. homes
When you hear “100 MW solar farm,” think: big project, enough to power a town.
According to Project Drawdown, a grid-scale solar project (also called utility-scale solar) is typically around 10 megawatts or more – though there’s no universally agreed-upon size cutoff. What really differentiates “grid-scale” from “distributed” solar is the end buyer: Grid-scale solar generates electricity that’s sold to utility buyers, whereas distributed solar is sold and delivered directly to end users, like homeowners who put solar panels on their roofs.
Elected leaders need case studies, data, and other technical information.
As constituents, we can hand it to them!