Active Utility-Scale Solar Moratoria: U.S. County Tracker

A moratorium is the bluntest instrument in a county's regulatory toolkit. Unlike setback rules or acreage caps, it doesn't create a conditional path — it closes one. This tracker lists every U.S. county with an active utility-scale solar moratorium. Active is defined as: a formal board action prohibiting new solar applications, currently in effect, that has not expired or been lifted.

Updated within 24 hours of a new filing · Source: SitePath primary-source monitoring

Active
moratoria

States
affected

In Iowa,
Indiana, Kansas

24h

Update
window

The Corn Belt concentration — and why it's not random

Iowa, Indiana, and Kansas together account for 19 of the 26 active moratoria — all major agricultural states where utility-scale solar competes directly with row-crop farming for flat, open land. County boards in the Corn Belt are the most likely in the country to reach for a moratorium as a first response. The stated reason is typically "study time" to draft an ordinance; in practice, the deeper driver is a farmland-preservation impulse that's hard to satisfy with any setback rule or acreage cap. Several of these moratoria have been renewed repeatedly without resolution.

Outside the Corn Belt, moratoria tend to reflect organized community opposition tied to rural character, view corridors, or road-impact concerns — the same grievances in a different landscape, without the land-competition dynamic that makes them so durable in agricultural counties.

7 Iowa

Calhoun, Cerro Gordo, Clarke, Henry, Kossuth, O'Brien, Shelby

6 Indiana

Boone, Decatur, Jay, Putnam, Starke, Tippecanoe

6 Kansas

Bourbon, Harvey, Kingman, Linn, McPherson, Pottawatomie

3 North Carolina

Davidson, Edgecombe, Greene

2 Nebraska

Frontier, Sherman

1 Oklahoma

Pottawatomie

1 Virginia

Greensville

What a moratorium means for developers

A moratorium suspends the county's ability to accept or process solar permit applications. It typically runs for 6–18 months while the board studies the issue, with the stated purpose of drafting or revising a solar ordinance. In practice, outcomes vary considerably:

Temporary pause, then ordinance: The most common outcome. The board lifts the moratorium after adopting new setback or acreage rules. Development resumes, usually under tighter conditions.
Renewal: Some counties extend moratoria repeatedly, effectively blocking development indefinitely without a formal ban.
Conversion to ban: Less common, but documented. A moratorium signals that sentiment may not be recoverable.
Quiet expiration: Some moratoria expire without follow-through, leaving the prior ordinance framework in place.

None of these outcomes are predictable from the moratorium text alone. Board composition, pending projects, state legislative pressure, and community economics all shape what happens next.

SitePath grades every moratorium county F (score 100), regardless of underlying sub-scores. An active moratorium means the site is functionally closed; the underlying ordinance scores don't override that. When a moratorium is lifted, the score recomputes from the underlying data.

Full list: every active moratorium county

Sorted by state, then county name. Click any county for its full profile.

County	State	Grade	Score	Status
Boone	Indiana	F	100	Active
Decatur	Indiana	F	100	Active
Jay	Indiana	F	100	Active
Putnam	Indiana	F	100	Active
Starke	Indiana	F	100	Active
Tippecanoe	Indiana	F	100	Active
Calhoun	Iowa	F	100	Active
Cerro Gordo	Iowa	F	100	Active
Clarke	Iowa	F	100	Active
Henry	Iowa	F	100	Active
Kossuth	Iowa	F	100	Active
O'Brien	Iowa	F	100	Active
Shelby	Iowa	F	100	Active
Bourbon	Kansas	F	100	Active
Harvey	Kansas	F	100	Active
Kingman	Kansas	F	100	Active
Linn	Kansas	F	100	Active
McPherson	Kansas	F	100	Active
Pottawatomie	Kansas	F	100	Active
Frontier	Nebraska	F	100	Active
Sherman	Nebraska	F	100	Active
Davidson	North Carolina	F	100	Active
Edgecombe	North Carolina	F	100	Active
Greene	North Carolina	F	100	Active
Pottawatomie	Oklahoma	F	100	Active
Greensville	Virginia	F	100	Active

Grade F is assigned automatically to all moratorium counties. Score is set to 100. Profile links open the full county record including ordinance history and source documents (paid tiers).

Moratorium counties move fast — in both directions

Moratorium counties are the highest-volatility entries in the dataset. The score swing from a moratorium lift can be dramatic — a county that resolves to a workable ordinance can jump from F to B in a single board meeting. The swing in the other direction is equally fast: an unexpected moratorium vote can close a county that looked accessible 48 hours before. Nothing in the site review or environmental assessment predicts a moratorium vote.

SitePath monitors county board agendas, planning commission filings, and local press across all 3,143 counties. Active moratoria are updated within 24 hours of a confirmed filing. Use the watchlist feature to flag any county for immediate score-change notifications.

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