The report summarizes all 15 renewable energy siting policy mechanisms used across the continental US as of April 2025, along with policy considerations and detailed state examples.  

Demand and Restrictive Local Permitting Drive Policy Change

Electricity demand in the US is surging to its fastest pace in decades, driven by the rise of AI, increased industrial manufacturing, and widespread electrification. But wind, solar, and battery additions are not keeping pace, lagging at just half the rate of annual deployment needed. One cause of slower annual additions, as reported by renewable energy developers, is project cancellations driven by restrictive local permitting. 

In response, states are reforming their energy siting policies, either by allowing responsibly sited projects to advance more expeditiously, or by further restricting renewable energy development. Bills on both ends of the spectrum are a frequent topic of debate in state legislatures, with more than 300 bills introduced across 40 states in 2025 alone. The best of these policies support projects that capitalize on the reliability, affordability, and environmental benefits of clean energy and incorporate fulsome community input, meaningful economic benefits, and protection of the environment. Restrictive siting policies, on the other hand, are now among the top barriers to affordable, reliable, and clean energy in the United States.

Making Sense of Siting Policies

This Insight Report summarizes each of the 15 renewable energy siting policy mechanisms used across the continental United States as of April 2025. There is no one-size-fits-all policy for clean energy siting; each state’s unique political, social, economic, and environmental conditions shape its policy framework. 

The map below shows each state’s policy framework(s)—most states use a combination of policy approaches—and the following table provides additional detail. Each of these policy mechanisms is explained in the report with one or more examples from specific states. We provide references to relevant laws for example states but exclude most statute references for brevity. 

Table 1, below, describes the various policy frameworks and sorts states into each framework, while Table 2 in Appendix A of the report lists all the continental U.S. states and their corresponding policy frameworks.

Download our report here!

If you’d like more information, or if there’s anything we’ve missed, please reach out to siting@cleantomorrow.org.