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Solar permitting — Darlington County, South Carolina

FIPS 45031

0 indexed meetings (0 energy-related), 0 PSC dockets, 0 news items, 8 known opposition groups.

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Darlington County, SC
Risk score 43.7/100 · Full scorecard →
Compliance: ModerateNo local solar ordinanceTrajectory: StableSaturation: Low-Moderate

⛔ ACTIVE MORATORIUM — Active Moratorium; moratorium expires —confirm expiration with county planning. Permitting: CUP via Darlington County Planning Commission; 150-ft max / 75-ft min setbacks. Track record: Darlington Solar I (~45 MW, 2020, Duke Energy Progress PPA); Lamar Solar (~35 MW, 2022); Soc

Key driver: Pee Dee rural county with established solar track record and Duke Energy Progress PPA history; NASCAR industrial culture keeps county receptive to large land use projects; moderate compliance burden reflects standard CUP; moderate saturation from three projects but capacity remains

Permitting process

Local permitting pathway

CUP via Darlington County Planning Commission; County Council approval

Setbacks & buffers

150 ft from residential structures; 75 ft from road ROW

Spacing requirements

Not specified

Size restrictions

None codified; managed via CUP/SUP conditions

Penalties & bonding

Total penalty: +28 | Active moratorium: +28

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; Duke Energy Progress

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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.