Knowledgebase Collection
Solar Energy
In recent years, many communities across the U.S. have taken a renewed interest in solar energy use. In some cases this interest is driven by a communitywide goal to lessen dependence on nonlocal fossil fuels, and in other cases it may be a reaction to rising demand from community members interested in installing solar energy systems on their homes, businesses, or property. One consequence of this renewed interest in solar energy has been a sharp increase in the number of communities that have added policy recommendations to their plans that support solar energy use and updated their development regulations and other plan implementation tools to clarify what types of solar energy systems are permissible in specific locations.
From this page you can search for resources that provide background or policy guidance on solar energy use, as well as examples of guides, plans, model codes, and regulations that encourage solar development. And you can filter these results by various geographic and demographic characteristics.
APA Resources
Planning for Solar Energy (PAS Report 575)
This PAS report provides planners with a basic rationale for planning for solar energy use, summarizes the fundamental characteristics of the U.S. solar market as they relate to local solar energy use, and explains how planners can take advantage of five strategic points of intervention to promote solar energy use.
Solar Powering Sunnyside
This Solar Powering Sunnyside is a new participatory planning exercise that uses game play to help community members understand solar development options from a land-use planning perspective.
Planning for Solar Energy Briefing Papers
This series of six briefing papers covers a range of specific topics related to planning for solar energy use. Each paper tackles a different aspect of the issue with a special emphasis on how local plans and implementation tools can reduce barriers to local solar energy use.
Planning for Utility-Scale Solar Energy Facilities
This PAS Memo article examines utility-scale solar facility uses and related land-use issues. It defines and classifies these facilities, analyzes their land-use impacts, and provides recommendations and sample language for addressing utility-scale solar in comprehensive plans and zoning ordinances.
Planning for Solar Energy (PAS QuickNotes)
This handout presents an overview of five strategic points of intervention for promoting solar energy use.
Using Solar Energy to Enhance Community Resilience
This recorded webinar explores how communities can use solar development to enhance resilience.
Promoting Solar Energy Use Through Local Planning
This webinar series focused on three topics central to local planning efforts: acknowledging the importance of the solar resource from a local policy perspective, incorporating solar-supportive policies into local plans, and adopting solar-friendly development regulations.
Place-Based Power: Communities and Utilities
This APA Learn course assesses the relationship between utilities and municipalities in equitably providing distributed and renewable energy options to consumers.
Play 'Solar Powering Sunnyside' to Sharpen Your Solar Skills
This blog post introduces "Solar Powering Sunnyside" as a participatory planning exercise to introduce the concept of solar energy to community members.
Local Solar
This Planning article reveals that smaller, more rural communities are leading in the transition to community-scale solar.
The Sun Industry
This Planning article investigates utility-scale solar energy in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Solar Power's Friends and Enemies
This Planning article explores the opportunities and challenges of implementing large-scale solar initiatives.
Solar Energy Use: Local Planning Issue
This Commissioner article explains that solar energy needs to be on the local planning agenda and provides some guidance about how to get the conversation started.
Let the Sun Shine In
This Planning article explores the relationship between federal funding and local planning departments when it comes to accommodating and implementing solar energy use.
The ABCs of Solar
This Planning article investigates the trend of solar energy adoption at schools.
Renewable Energy Gets Real
This Planning article discusses how Gainsville, Florida used financial incentives to promote solar energy adoption.
It's Everywhere
This Planning article describes how communities are taking advantage of the low cost of solar, thanks to federal tax credits.
Sunny Side Up
This Planning article champions the success of solar energy and predicts its continued adoption.
Here Comes the Sun
This Planning article introduces the concept of community solar and explains where it has been successfully adopted.
Dubai's Planning Paradox
This Planning article investigates Dubai's environmental sustainability efforts, including an impressive solar program.
Energy: Where Design Begins
This Planning article, an excerpt from William Browning's book Green Community, explores the relationship between energy, community, and the built environment.
A Run to the Sun
This Planning article discusses some of the challenges of regulating solar energy use at the federal and local level.
Planning for Solar Energy Use
Planners, local officials, and other community stakeholders typically support solar energy use for environmental or economic reasons. However, because most communities pursue multiple goals and strategies simultaneously, it is important for planners to help community stakeholders understand how using solar energy can affect other community resources and priorities.
Local comprehensive, functional, and subarea plans that include background information about the local solar resource and solar market conditions along with solar-supportive policy recommendations send clear signals to residents, business owners, and other community stakeholders about where and how solar energy use will be sanctioned or supported locally.
Zoning for Solar Energy Use
One of the biggest potential barriers to solar energy use is a lack of clarity in the local zoning code about what types of solar energy systems are permitted in what locations. Without clear use definitions and permissions, planners may be forced to make ad hoc determinations about whether a particular installation is permissible in a specific location.
Beyond this, communities can encourage solar energy use, while also mitigating potential conflicts, by helping updating development regulations with use-specific standards for different types of solar development and other complimentary standards. Standards for specific solar uses may address height, setbacks, screening, or decommissioning (among other topics). Meanwhile, communities can help protect or incentivize investments in solar energy by adding solar access protections, solar site design standards, solar-ready home requirements or incentives, and density bonuses or other development incentives to their development regulations.
Reports
Accelerating Large-Scale Wind and Solar Energy in New York: Principles and Recommendations
This report is designed to help state officials and policy advocates in New York understand opportunities to expand large-scale solar and wind development to reach the state's renewable energy goals.
Amplifying Clean Energy With Conservation Part One: Pollinator-Friendly Solar
This report highlights opportunities to combine large-scale solar installations with native vegetation to provide habitat for pollinators.
An Opportunity for Maryland to Get Solar Siting Right
This report is designed to help state officials and policy advocates in Maryland understand opportunities to encourage solar development after the passage of the Clean Energy Jobs Act.
Benefits and Costs of Model Solar Applications for Local Governments
This report is designed to help local government staff and officials in Texas conduct benefit cost analyses for solar projects on public land and facilities.
Best Practices for Siting Solar Photovoltaics on Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
This report discusses strategies for overcoming common technical challenges associated with siting solar energy systems on municipal solid waste landfills.
Clean Energy in City Codes: A Baseline Analysis of Municipal Codification across the United States
This report surveys municipal renewable energy codification in the United States.
Briefing Papers
Buying Clean Electricity: How Cities Benefit from Power Purchase Agreements
This briefing paper explores the power purchase agreement (PPA) model as an approach to purchasing renewable energy.
Land Use Considerations for Large-Scale Solar
This briefing paper summarizes stormwater management challenges and potential vegetation management solutions for large-scale solar development.
Leasing Municipal and Private Property for Solar: Key Steps and Considerations
This briefing paper is designed to help local government staff and officials evaluate opportunities to lease public land for solar development.
Lessons Learned: Community Solar for Municipal Utilities
This briefing paper reviews approaches and strategies for municipal utilities interested in developing community solar projects.
Municipal Energy Financing: Lessons Learned
This briefing paper discusses property assessed clean energy (PACE) programs as an option for municipalities to finance renewable energy projects.
Recommendations for Utility-Scale Solar Developers: Best Practices for Land Use and Zoning Project Approval
This briefing paper is designed to help solar developers in North Carolina and Virginia plan and implement large-scale solar projects.
Articles
The Key to Unlocking the Power of Small Scale Renewable Energy: Local Land Use Regulations
This article discusses methods to support small-scale wind and solar projects through local land use regulations.
Toward a Low-Carbon Future: Municipal Financing for Energy Efficiency and Solar Power
This article analyzes creative financing initiatives that promote solar development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Zoning for Sustainability: A Review and Analysis of the Zoning Ordinances of 32 Cities in the United States
This article examines how municipalities incorporate sustainability principles into local zoning regulations.
Fact Sheets
Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing of Renewables and Efficiency
This fact sheet outlines the benefits of property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing and specifically how it addresses barriers to solar purchasing.
interactive Maps
Cook County, IL, Solar Map
This map displays rooftops in Cook County, Illinois, that would be suitable to host solar energy systems with rated capacities of at least 25 kW.
Los Angeles County, CA, Solar Map and Green Planning Tool
This online tool allows users to view solar energy potential at the individual rooftop level and plan projects, and it displays existing solar energy projects.
RE-Powering Mapper 2.0
This interactive map contains over 130,000 contaminated sites across the U.S. evaluated for their renewable energy development potential.
Guides
A Guide on Equitable Clean Energy Program Design for Local Governments and Partners
This guide is designed to help local governments promote equity through clean energy program design.
A Guide to Community Solar: Utility , Private, and Non-profit Project Development
This guide is designed to help local governments and community organizations plan and develop community shared solar energy projects.
A Municipal Guidebook for Solar Zoning and Permitting: Zoning and Permitting Solar in Your Municipality
This guide is designed to help municipalities update zoning regulations and permitting processes to encourage solar development.
A Step by Step Tool Kit for Local Governments to Go Solar
This guide is designed to help cities and counties in California use policies, programs, and investments to support solar energy use.
Aggregate Net Metering: Opportunities for Local Governments
This guide is designed to help local governments understand and support aggregate net metering.
Arvada, CO, Design Guidelines for Olde Town Arvada
This guide addresses appropriate solar installations for historic buildings as well as new and infill construction in this district.
Models
A Model Ordinance for Energy Projects
This model ordinance offers guidance to Oregon cities and counties on siting solar and other alternative energy utility projects.
A Municipal Guidebook for Solar Zoning and Permitting: Zoning and Permitting Solar in Your Municipality
This guide is designed to help municipalities update zoning regulations and permitting processes to encourage solar development.
A Step by Step Tool Kit for Local Governments to Go Solar
This guide is designed to help cities and counties in California use policies, programs, and investments to support solar energy use.
CSRA-RC, GA, Integrating Solar Land Uses: A Regulatory Template for CSRA Communities
This guide is designed to help cities and counties in east-central Georgia, adopt solar development regulations.
California Solar Energy Facility Permit Streamlining Guide
This guide is designed to help counties in California develop zoning regulations and permitting processes to streamline solar development.
Cumberland County, PA, Solar Energy Systems Model Ordinance
This model ordinance provides a template to help counties implement accessory and principal solar energy systems, as well as solar easements.
Comprehensive Plans
2030 Stearns County, MN, Comprehensive Plan
This comprehensive plan includes a goal for responsible use of the county's natural resources, with a related objective of encouraging the use of renewable energy systems.
Alachua County, FL, Comprehensive Plan 2011-2030
This county's comprehensive plan belongs to the Built Environment and Health, Capital Improvements Programming, Comprehensive Planning, Food Systems, and Solar Energy collections.
Albany, NY, Albany 2030
This city's comprehensive plan belongs to the Age-Friendly Communities, Built Environment and Health, Community Visioning, Comprehensive Planning, Food Systems, Social Equity, Social Service Uses, and Solar Energy collections.
Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, NM, Comprehensive Plan
The Community Resource Management section of the plan discusses the importance of solar energy, and goals and policies for Land Use and Energy Management address solar energy use.
Altamont, NY, Comprehensive Plan
This comprehensive plan belongs to the Outdoor Lighting and Solar Energy collections.
Amherst, MA, Master Plan
The town's Master Plan addresses solar as a sustainability strategy in its Natural and Cultural Resources Element as well as its Services and Facilities element.
Functional Plans
Arlington County, VA, Community Energy Plan
This functional plan, adopted as an element of the comprehensive plan, sets goals and policies of increasing the use of renewable energy.
Arlington Sustainability Action Plan Volume I: Climate Action Plan
This functional plan lists installation of renewable energy technologies on both municipal and private buildings as an important strategy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Boulder County, CO, Environmental Sustainability Plan
This functional plan supports expanding solar use on all county buildings and describes the county's existing solar energy installations.
Broward County, FL, Climate Change Action Plan
This Climate Change Action Plan includes goals and actions that support the expansion of renewable energy and solar power use within the county.
Burlington, VT, Climate Action Plan
The city's Climate Action Plan includes goals and strategies to increase the use of renewable energy sources, including solar.
Cape May County, NJ, Energy Plan
This functional plan sets a goal of actively pursuing and developing solar PV along with other renewable energy sources.
Subarea Plans
Mountain View, CA, North Bayshore Precise Plan
The city's General Plan provides land use and design visions, goals, policies, and guidelines for different "change areas" within the city; those for the North Bayshore Change Area address solar and renewable energy production.
Regulations
Aberdeen, SD, Code of Ordinances
The city's code of ordinances includes a section on alternative energy systems that addresses wind and solar energy systems.
Addis, LA, Code of Ordinances
The town's code of ordinances includes a section on energy considerations stating that all structures must be sited to maximize the use of passive solar energy systems.
Addison, TX, Code of Ordinances
This regulation belongs to the Form-Based Zoning and Solar Energy collections.
Adel, IA, Municipal Code
The city's municipal code sets certain bulk restrictions in commercial districts to protect solar access to existing solar energy systems.
Albany, CA, Code of Ordinances
The city's subdivision regulations allow the city to require the dedication of Solar Access Easements for each parcel.
Albany, NY, Municipal Code
The city's zoning ordinance permits accessory solar energy systems by right in all districts and provides standards for these uses.
Related Collections
Wind Energy
This collection catalogs resources that provide background and policy guidance on wind energy use, as well as examples of local plans and regulations that support wind development.