With ramped-up local restrictions, renewable energy marches on

Public outcry over individual renewable energy projects increased 32% last year, in many cases succeeding to delay a project’s approval, scaling down its size or achieving its cancelation, according to a new report from Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

Additionally, the fifth-annual report found a 16% increase in local laws and ordinances that restrict solar, energy storage and wind development from the previous year, bringing the total number of local laws and ordinances with “severe“ local renewable energy restrictions to 459 counties and municipalities across 44 states.

Local restrictions on wind projects were more prevalent than for solar, the report found, with 298 laws and ordinances enacted against wind, 248 against solar and 18 restrictions against energy storage facilities. Projects with solar generation were more frequently contested than for projects with wind turbines, with 262 solar and 212 wind projects contested in every state except Alaska.

Looking at the data behind the report, the Blackwater Solar Project, which would have provided 600 MW capacity of clean energy to Virginia’s grid, was the largest contested solar project that was canceled in 2024. Overall, 31 solar projects and two energy storage projects were canceled in 2024.

“While 2024 was a year of record-breaking success for the development of utility-scale renewables in the United States, three recent studies suggest that installations could have been significantly higher absent restrictive zoning and local opposition,” the report said.

The authors noted a January 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that found at least 30% of solar and wind projects were being canceled, with developers citing “local ordinances or zoning” and “community opposition” as two of the three leading causes.

Additionally, setback requirements alone can reduce solar resources by up to 38%, depending on the size of the setbacks applied, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Michigan had the most local restrictions (62), followed by New York (46) and Nebraska (32). However, he authors noted that for some states, such as New York, a high cumulative tally for local restrictions or for contested projects does not necessarily indicate it is more difficult to site projects. For example, New York’s jurisdiction is allowed to preempt local restrictions when issuing a permit for large-scale projects. The projects most vulnerable to local restrictions and community opposition in New York are relatively small projects that do not qualify for state review, the authors said.

At the state level, policies to restrict renewable energy remained roughly constant from the report’s previous four years, with 16 states enacting restrictive legislation as of Dec. 31, 2024. While this number has remained relatively unchanged, state policy has wavered, with some states adding restrictions as other states removing them.

Among the most significant state developments reside in Michigan, according to the authors, where 62 local restrictions inhibit renewable energy development. For the past couple years, Michigan’s local and state governments waged legal battles to retain control over permitting large renewable energy projects. Michigan gave some control to the state’s public service commission when local governments fail to act or deny a permit that meets state requirements. However, legislators introduced a bill earlier this year that would have given local governments back sole control, and a lawsuit of nearly 80 townships and counties seeking to vacate the commission’s control is ongoing.

The authors said they only included state laws and local ordinances “that are so severe that they either (a) scuttled a specific project or (b) could have the effect of barring or significantly curtailing renewable energy development within the relevant jurisdiction, whether permanently or temporarily.” The criteria included restrictions such as temporary or permanent bans on renewable energy facilities, such as forbidding solar on agricultural land; setback requirements of 300 feet or more from property lines or roads, or at least 500 feet from offsite structures; and restrictions on the energy’s use, such as ordinances that only allow generation for onsite use.

The authors noted that while the report includes every qualifying restriction and controversy they were able to identify, the data is not exhaustive.

Unprecedented local opposition and anti-solar local ordinances, along with the loss of support from the Trump administration, is driving a need for a new generation of state solar rights statutes, separate research from Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law said earlier this year. The paper discussed avenues states can take to strengthen rural landowners’ solar developments rights, and how much of the local opposition is often often unwarranted and based on misinformation.

(Read: Local opposition threatens clean energy transition)

The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law’s annual report is part of its Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI). Launched in 2019, RELDI conducts independent research on issues related to siting renewable energy infrastructure and facilitates. It also provides pro bono legal representation to community groups and local residents who support renewable energy projects in their communities that are facing opposition. Those who are aware of any projects facing issues related to their siting and might benefit from legal counsel may contact Matthew Eisenson.

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