Solar permitting — Washington Parish, Louisiana
1 news item, 2 known opposition groups.
Southeast Louisiana timber heritage parish; Franklinton seat; Entergy Louisiana and Washington-St. Permitting: Conditional Use Permit; 300-ft max / 150-ft min setbacks. Track record: denial on record — Sunlight Road Solar — 500 acres…
Key driver: Southeast Louisiana timber heritage parish; Franklinton seat; Entergy Louisiana and Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative MISO grid; Bogalusa paper mill closure creates economic development urgency; pine timber and pasture land transitioning; moderate density (67/sq mi) with viable rural parcels; standard CUP with moderate political engagement from post-industrial community; C-grade borderline reflecting modest compliance score, declining trajectory from economic transition uncertainty, and moderate saturation risk
Permitting process
Local permitting pathway
Conditional Use Permit (CUP) — Washington Parish Police Jury
Setbacks & buffers
Act 279 (2025) siting requirements, applying to a solar facility of 75 ACRES OR MORE not wholly within an industrial-zoned area or an LED certified site, constructed after 1 January 2026: 300 ft from a RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY LINE to the nearest solar equipment, with a 35 ft barrier of new landscaping or a 50 ft barrier of natural plants; 100 ft from the low water mark of natural and navigable waterways; 50 ft from the pavement edge of a public road, with a 35 ft vegetative barrier. Noise may not exceed 10 dB above pre-construction ambient at the property line. A parish may adopt its own siting requirements and opt out of the state requirements by resolution, and a landowner may opt out by written agreement with the operator — NOTE: the distances above are a STATE-level fallback, not a figure read from this county's own ordinance. We hold siting-rule records for this county which may include a stricter local limit we have not yet extracted. Verify against the county's own ordinance before relying on these.
Spacing requirements
None established
Size restrictions
None codified; managed via CUP/SUP conditions
Penalties & bonding
Total penalty: +28 | Active moratorium: +28
State-level permits & approvals
Parish zoning authority; no state solar preemption; conditional use permit typically required for utility-scale (>1 MW); no mandatory decommissioning bond statewide (some parishes require it)
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State policy & grid context
State RPS & clean energy policy
No binding RPS | None | Louisiana has no state RPS; voluntary pilot 350 MW distributed
State incentive programs
Federal ITC eligible; Louisiana sales tax exemption for solar equipment; Louisiana property tax exemption for solar; no state income tax credit for commercial solar
Grid & interconnection
MISO / Entergy Louisiana
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Battery storage (BESS) P1 State-Default Permitting
No confirmed parish BESS ordinance.
BESS ordinances & bylaws
County-level battery-storage status, safety requirements, and projects — each linked to a primary source.
Community opposition P1 2 tracked
Organized opposition signals on record for this county — petitions, community groups, and oppositional coverage — each linked to its primary source.
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Subscriber intel Subscribers
Researched for this county and available with a subscription:
- 🔒Project track record
- 🔒Developer intelligence
- 🔒Governing board
Energy-related meetings & dockets P1
No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.
State PSC dockets P1
No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.
Local news P3
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