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Solar permitting — Unicoi County, Tennessee

FIPS 47171

No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.

D
Unicoi County, TN
Risk score 64/100 · Full scorecard →
Compliance: HighSolar ordinance on fileTrajectory: WorseningSaturation: High

⛔ ACTIVE MORATORIUM — Active Moratorium; moratorium expires —confirm expiration with county planning. Permitting: CUP per SB 2373. Track record: denial on record — None formally denied (no applications reached commission). Political environment: Republican majority; community: cautious to opposed.…

Key driver: Erwin TN; narrow East TN mountain valleys; Nolichucky River gorge; very limited flat buildable terrain; mountain character limits utility-scale viability; worsening regulatory posture from terrain and community identity combination

Permitting process

Local permitting pathway

CUP per SB 2373; decommissioning bond required; steep terrain and narrow valley floor sharply limit eligible parcels

Setbacks & buffers

Not codified; commission expected to apply heightened scrutiny given mountain setting

Spacing requirements

No spacing requirements codified

Size restrictions

No size restrictions codified

Penalties & bonding

Total penalty: +5 (Denial +5)

State-level permits & approvals

County zoning authority under SB 2373 (2022); conditional use permit or special exception required; decommissioning bond often required; setback standards increasingly codified at county level

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Full permitting requirements

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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

Grid & interconnection

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) — covers all 95 TN counties

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Full state policy & grid detail

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Community opposition P1

No organized opposition on record for this county yet — no petition, group, or oppositional coverage tracked. Absence of opposition is a positive siting signal.

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Energy-related meetings & dockets P1

No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.

State PSC dockets P1

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Sentiment rollup P2

No sentiment rollup yet (requires meeting transcripts to be processed).

Local news P3

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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 2026-07-07. See the county risk scorecard or the full Tennessee permitting index.