Washington, DC – The majority of state siting laws enacted in 2026 favored clean energy deployment, according to The State of Siting: 2026 Legislative Round-Up, released today by the Siting Solutions Project. Among bills introduced, restrictive bills still outnumbered permissive ones, but the gap narrowed significantly compared to 2025.
This second annual report analyzes 201 bills introduced across 40 states during the 2026 legislative session. These findings offer policymakers, advocates, and the clean energy industry a clear, evidence-based picture of where siting policy stands and where it is heading.
The data demonstrates positive momentum toward clean energy deployment – and that energy policy is top of mind for state decisionmakers. Almost all active state legislatures in 2026 debated siting bills. Of the 29 bills enacted this session, 16 were permissive. Only one restrictive law was passed and ultimately was a substantially watered-down version of its original form. The most extreme proposals failed to advance, including statewide moratoriums in Missouri and Alabama and de-facto bans in Arizona.
“The 2026 session shows that defense is working,” said Nelson Falkenburg, policy manager at the Siting Solutions Project. “Coordinated campaigns successfully defeated the most aggressive anti-renewable bills, and enacted laws favored deployment in both red and blue states. But defense alone does not accelerate siting. With electricity demand rising fast, we need legislators to be more ambitious on siting reforms that will enable the development of clean energy in 2027.”
Key findings from the report include:
- The share of legislation permitting clean energy siting increased. Of the 201 bills tracked, 43% restricted clean energy development and 36% were permissive. This is an improvement over 2025, when 49% of the introduced bills sought to restrict clean energy.
- Restrictive bills were concentrated in three types of states. These bills were focused in southern Republican trifecta states, high-deployment states experiencing backlash, and states with existing siting regimes facing local pushback.
- Major achievements in Virginia, Illinois, Oregon, Iowa, and Washington state ruled the day. Virginia passed a solar and storage legislative package establishing statewide siting standards. Illinois established uniform statewide standards for local ordinances regulating large, utility-scale wind and solar. Oregon created streamlined pathways to bypass its burdensome permitting process. A watershed PUC decision in Iowa nullified the need for permissive reforms in the state. Washington state established a new excise tax treatment paired with community investment grants to encourage local permitting.
- Battery storage was the only technology with mostly permissive bills introduced. Overall, states moved to adopt safety regulations and preempt restrictive local ordinances for a rapidly growing technology.
- Defensive coalitions repeatedly stopped restrictive bills, even in Republican trifecta states. Alabama’s solar moratorium cleared the Senate but died in the House. Missouri’s governor-backed moratorium never reached the floor for a vote.
“The clearest signal from this session was what failed to advance,” said Zona Martin, analyst at the Siting Solutions Project. “The harshest restrictions largely died in committee, meaning that blocking deployment of clean energy projects is not ultimately the goal. But comprehensive siting reform, to allow for the development of more clean energy, was not achieved either, and that is a reminder that stopping damaging policy is far easier than enacting the ambitious reforms that many states need. There is still so much work to be done.”
Looking ahead, the Siting Solutions Project expects 2027 to be the most active siting session yet, driven by data center demand growth and rising electricity prices. All state legislatures will return to session, beginning with a clean slate – including Texas, which did not hold a general session in 2026. Advocates in Iowa and Texas will be on the defensive, while permissive reforms are anticipated in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Indiana.
Read The State of Siting: 2026 Legislative Round-Up here. For more information, explore the Siting Solution Project’s Legislative tracker here.
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About the Siting Solutions Project
The Siting Solutions Project (SSP) conducts rigorous analysis and stakeholder engagement to identify the most promising siting policies to maximize the benefits clean energy provides – for communities, the environment, and the electric grid. The Siting Solutions Project supports a wide variety of stakeholders and state policymakers across the political spectrum. Learn more at sitingsolutions.com.