Solar permitting — Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
On file: local news, known opposition groups.
Scranton metro county; limited agricultural land; community solar and commercial rooftop primary pathways; som. Permitting: Municipal Planning Board/Zoning Hearing Board: CUP or Special Exception. No county-level… Track record: den…
Key driver: Scranton metro county; limited agricultural land; community solar and commercial rooftop primary pathways; some rural township utility-scale possible
Permitting process
Local permitting pathway
Municipal Planning Board/Zoning Hearing Board: CUP or Special Exception. No county-level siting authority in PA; each municipality has own zoning ordinance.
Setbacks & buffers
None codified at county level. Municipal (township/borough) setbacks govern. — 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 codified at county level.
Size restrictions
None codified at county level.
Penalties & bonding
No penalties or adjustments. Standard CUP/SUP process.
State-level permits & approvals
Local permit: Conditional Use or Special Exception in agricultural zoning district; governed by PA Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), 53 P.S. §10101 et seq. No statewide preemption of local ordinances — municipalities and counties may restrict or prohibit utility-scale solar without state override. ~5% of PA's 2,559 municipal codes explicitly address grid-scale solar (Penn State Dickinson Law, 2023); most projects require ordinance amendment or variance. No state CPCN requirement for solar. Net metering available under PA Act 35 of 2007. AEPS Act 213 of 2004: ~18% renewable energy standard; no significant solar carve-out.
Full records for this county are part of a SitePath subscription.
State policy & grid context
State RPS & clean energy policy
18% by 2021 (8% Tier I, 0.5% solar carve-out) | Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act (Act 213, 2004) | 73 P.S. §1648.1
State incentive programs
PA Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS): 18% Tier I renewable by 2021 (met); no solar-specific carve-out in AEPS — PA's renewable credit market is small vs. NJ/MD. Net metering: PA Act 35 of 2007; net metering for systems up to 5 MW; PPL, PECO, Met-Ed, West Penn, Penelec, Penn Power offer programs. SREC market: very limited; PA SRECs trade at near-floor value. USDA REAP grants and loans: available for rural projects. PACE financing: available in Allegheny, Philadelphia, and other PA counties. Solar not preempted: all PA utility-scale permitting at local zoning level. Utility varies by county: PECO (Philadelphia/SE PA); PPL (eastern/central PA); West Penn Power (FirstEnergy, SW/western PA); Met-Ed (eastern border); Penelec (Allegheny/NW PA areas); Duquesne Light (Allegheny County metro).
Grid & interconnection
PJM / PPL Electric Utilities transmission zone
Full records for this county are part of a SitePath subscription.
Battery storage (BESS) P1 State-Default Permitting
No confirmed county BESS ordinance.
BESS ordinances & bylaws
County-level battery-storage status, safety requirements, and projects — each linked to a primary source.
Community opposition P1
Organized opposition signals on record for this county — petitions, community groups, and oppositional coverage — each linked to its primary source.
- r/Pennsylvania on Reddit: Six data center campuses are planned for just one Pa. borough. Residents are fighting back. Data center
- r/Scranton on Reddit: A town of 7,000 planned so many data centers, its like adding 51 Walmarts Data center
- r/Scranton on Reddit: Data Centers Are Poised to Engulf a Pennsylvania Town Data center
- Lackawanna County Commissioner Gaughan asks Shapiro and Pa. legislature for statewide data center moratorium Data center
- Petition · Stop Data Center Construction in Lackawanna County Data center
- Petition · No Wind Turbines on Pennsylvania State Game Lands 300 Wind
- Petition · Stop Data Center Construction in Lackawanna County Data center
- Residents rally against data center zoning proposals in Lackawanna County communities Data center
- Community opposition to Ransom Township Data Center data center Data center
- Community opposition to Project Gold Data Center data center Data center
SitePath maintains the most complete community-opposition dataset available, refreshed continuously from primary sources.
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
- 2026-09-23 Benton Twp Approves Environmentally Conscious Data Center Ordinance
- 2026-09-23 Valley View School District Lawsuit Could Halt Project Gravity Data Centers
- 2026-09-21 Where Do You Go Archbald Residents Fear Giant Data Center Next Door
- 2026-09-20 Shapiro Cites Archbald In The Need For More Local Control Over Data Centers
- 2026-09-18 22 Regional Data Center Projects And Where They Stand
- 2026-09-16 8Th District Ad Watch A Deeper Dive Into Bresnahans Data Center Bill Previous Views
- 2026-09-16 Facts Science Evidence Commissioners Ok Data Center Health Impact Study
- 2026-09-15 Commissioners Poised To Award Data Center Health Study To Empower Analytics
- 2026-09-09 Developer Wants All Archbald Council Members Removed From Data Center Hearings
- 2026-09-08 Data Centers Can Bolster Revenue Help Local Residents
- 2026-09-07 Civic Group Residents Voice Concerns About Proposed Power Plant
- 2026-08-28 Benton Twp Looks To Adopt Environmentally Conscious Data Center Ordinance
- 2026-08-26 Norwegian Company To Spend Nearly 1 Billion On Stake In Jessup Power Plant
- 2026-08-20 Data Center Backers Opponents Weigh Shapiros New Rules
- 2026-08-20 Our Opinion We Can Welcome Data Centers Without Sacrificing Communities
Filter by grade, state, moratorium status, and compliance stringency. Compare counties side by side.