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

Where the moratoria are

The geographic pattern is not random. Iowa, Indiana, and Kansas account for 19 of the 26 active moratoria — all three are major agricultural states where the tension between solar development and farmland preservation has been most acute. County boards in the Corn Belt have used moratoria as a way to pause and study, sometimes leading to permanent ordinances and sometimes leading to outright bans.

North Carolina's three moratorium counties — Davidson, Edgecombe, and Greene — reflect a different dynamic: organized opposition tied to rural character concerns and agricultural heritage, not solar competition with row crops.

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.

All active moratorium counties

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).

What to monitor

Moratorium counties are the highest-volatility entries in the dataset. A county that lifts a moratorium can shift from F to B or C in a single board meeting if the follow-on ordinance is workable. Conversely, a quiet county can move to F within days of a board 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.

Open the full map →