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Solar permitting — Charleston County, South Carolina

FIPS 45019

0 indexed meetings (0 energy-related), 0 PSC dockets, 0 news items, 12 known opposition groups.

D
Charleston County, SC
Risk score 59.0/100 · Full scorecard →
Compliance: HighTrajectory: WorseningSaturation: Moderate

⛔ ACTIVE MORATORIUM — Active Moratorium; moratorium expires —confirm expiration with county planning. Permitting: CUP via Charleston County Board of Zoning Appeals or Planning Commission; 200-ft max / 100-ft min setbacks. Track record: denial on record — James Island Solar (denied 2023, ~10 MW — res

Key driver: South Carolina's largest metro county; limited utility-scale land, coastal regulatory overlay, affluent opposition, and limited saturation headroom drive C grade; viable projects exist in rural western portions (Adams Run, Hollywood areas) but risk of denial and appeal is meaningful

Permitting process

Local permitting pathway

CUP via Charleston County Board of Zoning Appeals or Planning Commission; County Council final; SCDHEC OCRM coordination for coastal-adjacent parcels

Setbacks & buffers

200 ft from residential; 100 ft from road ROW; coastal setbacks per SCDHEC OCRM; conservation overlay areas excluded

Spacing requirements

Not specified

Size restrictions

Ground-mounted restricted in OCRM overlay and conservation areas

Penalties & bonding

Total penalty: +5 (Denial +5)

State-level permits & approvals

County zoning authority; no state solar preemption; special exception or conditional use permit typically required for utility-scale (>1 MW); decommissioning bond increasingly required

State policy & grid context

State RPS & clean energy policy

No binding RPS | None | Energy Freedom Act (2019) addresses solar but no state RPS

State incentive programs

Federal ITC eligible; SC state income tax credit for solar (25% up to $35,000 for commercial); SC Energy Freedom Act net metering provisions

Grid & interconnection

SERC-SE; Dominion Energy South Carolina

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Energy-related meetings & dockets P1

No meetings indexed yet for this jurisdiction.

State PSC dockets P1

No PSC dockets matched to this county yet.

Local news P3

News ingestion not yet active for this county (GDELT/RSS pipeline pending).

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Data sources: public agendas/minutes from local government sites; PSC dockets from state regulators; news from GDELT and curated RSS; sentiment derived from public meeting transcripts. Last refreshed 2026-06-10. See the county risk scorecard or the full South Carolina permitting index.