Consolidated State Siting and Permitting Authority

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

For projects over 50MW, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is allowed to oversee the permitting of clean and renewable energy facilities and facilities that produce clean energy technologies, if facilities opt into the CEC's jurisdiction. Environmental impact reports by the CEC must be completed within 270 days.

Counties can serve as lead agencies (instead of the state) for permitting and environmental review of geothermal energy projects.

In California, once a developer opts into the state's siting process, planners and local officials are relegated to the role of interested parties. State authorities will likely often give serious consideration to well-founded local concerns, but they aren't obligated to reject a project just because it doesn't meet local zoning requirements.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

Facilities larger than 1 MW fall under the jurisdiction of the Connecticut Siting Council. Municipal zoning commissions or inland wetland agencies may issue orders that regulate the proposed location of an electric generation facility. These orders may, however, be revoked by the Connecticut Siting Council. The Council is directed to “give such consideration to ... municipal regulations as it shall deem appropriate” and is authorized to affirm or revoke municipal orders concerning siting.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

Siting authority is primarily under the jurisdiction of the Maryland Public Service Commission (MPSC) for projects over 2MW. The MPSC must grant a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) before any construction can commence. Local government recommendations must be considered, but are not binding.

The Energy Facilities Siting Board oversees siting and permitting processes for large clean energy projects, and must issue or reject a permit within 15 months. For smaller projects, municipalities retain control over the permitting process, but permits must be issued or rejected within 12 months. For both small and large projects, applications will get automatic approval if these deadlines aren’t met.

The Michigan Public Service Commission has permitting authority for all solar projects and battery projects over 50 megawatts, and wind projects over 100 megawatts. Developers must still submit site plans to local jurisdictions that have ordinances that are fully compliant with the state's maximally restrictive standards.

The MPUC is the principal state-level agency responsible for generation facilities of at least 50 MW. The Commission also handles permitting for wind projects of at least 5 MW. A site permit from the state “shall supersede and preempt all zoning, building, or land use rules, regulations, or ordinances” promulgated by local governments.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

The New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee (SEC) has jurisdiction over proposed renewable energy facilities with a capacity of at least 30 MW. It also has jurisdiction over facilities with a capacity of 5 to 30 MW if the SEC determines the facility requires a certificate, either on its own motion or by petition of the developer or other community stakeholders.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

The state Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) has exclusive siting authority for major solar and wind projects of at least 25 MW. Energy projects 20 to 25 MW may opt out of local siting and into ORES siting. Local governments may also adopt setbacks and other requirements for major energy facilities of at least 25 MW. However, for large projects subject to ORES review, the state may elect not to apply those requirements if they are deemed overly burdensome.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission can supersede local zoning authority on proposed transmission line projects when those local regulations are deemed too restrictive or not in compliance with federal law. The PSC also authorizes wind facility projects larger than 0.5 MW and other generating facilities larger than 50 MW.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

Battery developers, or the governing body of a local government, who wants to build a battery energy storage system (BESS) can choose to seek siting approval from the Energy Facility Siting Council rather than local governments. Solar projects are regulated exclusively at the state level for projects that use particular amounts of acreage. That threeshold ranges between 240 and 3,840 acres, depending on the agricultural quality of the land. Wind projects larger than 50MW are regulated at the state level as well.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

The Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) is the licensing and permitting authority for all licenses required for siting, construction or alteration of a major energy facility (at least 40 MW) in Rhode Island.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

Vermont's Public Utilities Commission grants permits for all electricity generation facilities

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

In Washington, the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) has authority over projects larger than 350MW, and smaller porjects may opt into that process as well. Once a developer opts into the state's siting process, planners and local officials are relegated to the role of interested parties. State authorities will likely often give serious consideration to well-founded local concerns, but they aren't obligated to reject a project just because it doesn't meet local zoning requirements.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

Wyoming preempts local authority for all proposed solar facilities with rated capacities over 30 MW or site areas greater than or equal to 100 acres.