By: Nicholas Montoni, Senior Program Director for Policy & Markets

While completing the biannual updates to the database of local ordinances for North Carolina and South Carolina in March 2026, the NC Clean Energy Technology Center observed several trends across multiple ordinances. While our first database update and accompanying trends analysis focused on individual category standards such as setbacks, height restrictions, and visual requirements, this update focuses on broader zoning and permitting trends as well as more restrictive development elements found across the Carolinas.

Project Permitting

In North Carolina, 69 counties have specific regulations pertaining to solar permitting, five specifically mention energy storage permitting, and 33 specifically mention wind permitting. In South Carolina, there are 0 county ordinances that reference energy storage permitting, while 23 counties explicitly address solar permitting and seven address wind permitting.

Zoning Trends

Zoning districts where solar, storage, and wind are permitted vary widely across counties in North Carolina and South Carolina, with some counties permitting development in all zones and some permitting only in extremely limited zones. In summary, in both states, all projects are generally permitted across residential, industrial, commercial, and agricultural zones, depending on size and acquisition of the appropriate permit. Industrial zones are the most common for permitting projects, followed by agricultural, commercial, and residential.

Some interesting anecdotes:

Colleton and Georgetown Counties in South Carolina create something called a “Solar Farm Floating Zone,” which is a zoning amendment that allows solar to be permitted on almost any existing zone. Many counties across both states simply list a permit type, such as “conditional use” or “special use” with no specific mention of zoning. Fairfield County, South Carolina states that all requirements for wind and solar are entirely dependent on their zoning district, with no specific provisions related to each zoning district. Multiple counties across both states allow solar and/or wind projects in all districts with only few exceptions, such as Anson, Iredell, Surry, and Washington in North Carolina and Charleston in South Carolina.

Zoning by the numbers:

Lot Size Trends

Across the Carolinas, 25 counties set minimum lot sizes for solar projects ranging from 1 acre to 25 acres. Notably, South Carolina has no counties that define minimums for solar any larger than 5 acres. In North Carolina, three counties set minimum lot sizes for wind projects, with two setting the minimum to 25 acres and one choosing 500 acres. In South Carolina, five counties set minimum lot sizes for wind energy projects, ranging from 1 to 20 acres.

Very few counties set maximum lot sizes. In North Carolina, four counties set maximum lot sizes for solar energy projects: Polk (50 acres);  Person, Davie, and Perquimans (100 acres); Warren (150 acres); Currituck (1000 acres); and Pasquotank (1500 acres). In South Carolina, only one county (Edgefield) sets a maximum lot size for solar projects of 200 acres.

Some counties establish maximum total acreage for solar projects county-wide. Clarendon County, SC establishes 3,900 as the maximum total acreage for solar projects, and Williamsburg County, SC sets the maximum at 2% of the county’s acreage.

Project Separation

Three counties across the Carolinas set minimum separation distances between solar projects. In NC, Person County mandates one-mile separation between all solar energy projects, while Warren County mandates separations of one mile for projects that are smaller than 50 acres and five miles for projects that are between 50 and 150 acres. In SC, Edgefield County requires at least 1000 feet between all solar energy projects.