Virginia's Solar Ban Counties Run Out of Road on July 1

On July 1, a handful of Virginia counties that spent the last two years writing utility-scale solar out of their zoning codes will have to start saying yes again — or at least stop saying a flat no. That is the practical effect of HB 711 / SB 347, the solar and battery-storage siting law Governor Glenn Youngkin signed on April 13, 2026. It is the biggest change to who decides where solar gets built in Virginia since the Virginia Clean Economy Act, and the counties at the center of SitePath's coverage map are the ones it reaches first.

What the law actually does

Three mechanics matter for siting.

Blanket bans are out. Effective July 1, 2026, localities may no longer impose outright bans or blanket exclusions on solar facilities of 1 MW or larger in agricultural, commercial, industrial, or institutional zoning districts. A county that had voted to remove utility-scale solar as an allowable land use must now accept and process applications again. (Va. Code § 15.2-2288.7; Canary Media)

A state board enters the room. The law creates the Virginia Solar Energy and Energy Storage Siting Advisory Board to review projects larger than 20 MW located within 7 miles of an interconnection point. The board issues a report and opinion within 90 days of an application, and the locality must approve or deny within 30 days of receiving that opinion. (regulatory-intel.json, va-hb711-solar-preemption-2025; VACo)

There is now an appeal. If a county denies a qualifying project, the developer can appeal to the State Corporation Commission within 21 days, and the SCC must approve a project that meets the specified capacity and proximity thresholds within 30 days. For the first time, a county "no" is not the end of the conversation. (regulatory-intel.json)

The same framework extends to battery storage, and every locality is supposed to have adopted a model solar/BESS ordinance by July 1, 2026. (changes-feed.json, va-hb711-signed-20260413)

The counties this lands on

This is not abstract. SitePath's pipeline tracks the specific counties that had built the walls this law is meant to knock down.

• Greensville County voted in June 2024 to remove utility-scale solar as an acceptable land use — even as Dominion's 86 MW County Line Solar sat approved inside its borders. That removal is exactly the kind of blanket exclusion HB 711 prohibits. (projects-pipeline.json, Greensville records; corroborated in regulatory-intel.json)
• Page County runs a 30-acre per-facility cap and its planning commission recommended unanimous denial of Urban Grid's 100 MW Cape Solar application. A 20 MW project like Dogwood Solar cleared; anything at utility scale did not. (Page Valley News)
• Halifax County imposed a temporary moratorium and then passed a restrictive solar ordinance amendment in November 2024, after approving Dominion's 90 MW Clover Creek Solar in 2022. (yourgv.com)

Greensville, Patrick, Franklin, and Page are the counties the law's own analysis names as having to reopen their doors. (regulatory-intel.json, impactedCounties)

Two things are worth watching in how these counties respond. First, the law bars blanket bans, not reasonable conditions — setbacks, decommissioning bonds, buffers, and acreage caps survive. Expect counties to substitute restrictive-but-legal ordinances for outright prohibitions. Second, the SCC appeal route only bites for projects that clear the capacity and proximity thresholds, so smaller or poorly-sited projects still live and die at the county level.

Why the timing is brutal

July 1 does not arrive alone. Three days later, on July 4, 2026, the federal construction-start safe harbor under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act closes: a utility-scale solar project must begin physical construction by that date to lock the 30% Section 48E investment tax credit, or else be placed in service by December 31, 2027. (regulatory-intel.json, obbba-construction-start-deadline)

So in a single week, Virginia developers get a new right to build in counties that had shut them out — and the federal clock on the economics of building runs out. Virginia has 191 active projects and nearly 1,800 approved projects nationwide; the ones with approvals in hand and shovels not yet in the ground are the ones for whom these two dates collide. County permit offices in the formerly-closed jurisdictions should expect applications to arrive fast, and they will be processing them against unfamiliar 30- and 90-day clocks.

What to watch next

• First applications into ban counties. The earliest filings into Greensville, Page, or Patrick after July 1 will show whether counties process them or stall.
• The first SCC appeal. The new appeal channel is untested. The first denial that goes to the SCC will set the tone for how much teeth the preemption really has.
• Substitute ordinances. Watch for counties replacing bans with 5-mile separation rules, tight acreage caps, or the model-ordinance minimum — restriction by another name.

For developers, July 1 reopens a map that had been closing county by county since 2023. For the counties, it is the moment local control over solar stops being absolute. Either way, the quiet part of Virginia's energy build-out just became the loud part.