Solar permitting — Johnson County, Tennessee
0 indexed meetings (0 energy-related), 0 PSC dockets, 0 news items, 9 known opposition groups.
🟠 HIGH-FRICTION JURISDICTION (Score 68/100, Grade D, deteriorating trajectory) — Johnson County receives a D grade because the combination of extreme terrain (eliminating virtually all viable utility-scale sites), the strongest ant. Permitting: Johnson County Planning Commission; very high complianc
Key driver: Johnson County receives a D grade because the combination of extreme terrain (eliminating virtually all viable utility-scale sites), the strongest anti-solar conservation/preservation ethos in Tennessee, and rapidly worsening political trajectory creates a near-insurmountable development environment. The score would be F if terrain alone were scored — D reflects that the political barriers are very high but not at active-moratorium level.
Permitting process
Local permitting pathway
Johnson County Planning Commission (very limited capacity): CUP in Agricultural/Rural zoning per SB 2373 (2022). Virtually no viable Agricultural-zoned flat land for utility-scale solar within county limits.
Setbacks & buffers
No county-specific solar setbacks codified. State minimums apply. Terrain — not ordinance — is the primary constraint, with mountainous slopes and ridge-and-valley geography eliminating viable sites in most of the county.
Spacing requirements
None codified.
Size restrictions
None codified; managed via CUP/SUP conditions
Penalties & bonding
No penalties or adjustments. Standard CUP/SUP process.
State-level permits & approvals
County zoning authority under SB 2373 (2022); no state solar preemption; conditional use permit or special exception typically required; decommissioning bond often required; setback standards increasingly codified
State policy & grid context
State RPS & clean energy policy
No binding RPS | None | Tennessee has no state RPS; TVA integrated resource planning only
State incentive programs
Federal ITC eligible; no Tennessee state solar tax credit; TVA Green Power Switch program available
Grid & interconnection
TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)
Subscriber intel Subscribers
Researched for this county and available with a subscription:
- 🔒Project track record
- 🔒Developer intelligence
- 🔒Community & board sentiment
- 🔒Governing board
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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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