Solar permitting — Union County, South Carolina
1 known opposition group.
⛔ ACTIVE MORATORIUM — Active Moratorium; moratorium expires —confirm expiration with county planning. Permitting: CUP via Union County Planning Board; 150-ft max / 50-ft min setbacks. Track record: Union Solar (~25 MW, 2022, Duke Energy Carolinas PPA). Political environment: Republican majority; com…
Key driver: Union earns B grade as a declining upstate SC county where the economic development imperative makes regulatory barriers minimal; council is actively pro-solar, compliance is low (CUP straightforward), saturation is very low, and trajectory is stable; primary constraint is limited economic activity and grid infrastructure in this corner of upstate…
Permitting process
Local permitting pathway
CUP via Union County Planning Board; County Council approval for >5 MW
Setbacks & buffers
150 ft from residential structures; 75 ft from road ROW; 50 ft from property lines; Broad River flood zone setbacks apply
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
Full records for this county are part of a SitePath subscription.
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 Carolinas
Full records for this county are part of a SitePath subscription.
Battery storage (BESS) P1 State-Default Permitting
No confirmed county BESS ordinance.
Local BESS ordinances & bylaws
County-level battery-storage status, safety requirements, and projects — each linked to a primary source.
Community opposition P1 1 tracked
Organized opposition signals on record for this county — petitions, community groups, and oppositional coverage — each linked to its primary source.
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
- 🔒Community & board sentiment
- 🔒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.
Sentiment rollup P2
No sentiment rollup yet (requires meeting transcripts to be processed).
Local news P3
No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.
Filter by grade, state, moratorium status, and compliance stringency. Compare counties side by side.