Solar PV Road Setbacks: Ordinances (2022) and Extrapolated Trends

Description

This dataset represents solar energy setback requirements from roads based on county ordinances as of April 2022. A setback requirement is a minimum distance from a road that an energy project may be developed, and these varied widely across the counties in which they existed. Two versions are provided: one reflecting only the county ordinances and another incorporating extrapolated trends. In the extrapolated version, a default setback of 30 meters was applied in counties without specific road setback regulations. A TIF data file and a PNG map of the data are provided for both versions, showing areas where solar energy is prohibited or permitted across the contiguous United States. For further details and citation, please refer to the publication linked below: Lopez, Anthony, Pavlo Pinchuk, Michael Gleason, Wesley Cole, Trieu Mai, Travis Williams, Owen Roberts, Marie Rivers, Mike Bannister, Sophie-Min Thomson, Gabe Zuckerman, and Brian Sergi. 2024. Solar Photovoltaics and Land-Based Wind Technical Potential and Supply Curves for the Contiguous United States: 2023 Edition. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-87843.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
34 Cartographic map of roads setback for solar technology. This is the extrapolated version where a default setback of 30 meters is applied in counties without specific roads setback regulations https://data.openei.org/files/6139/setbacks_road_reference_map%20%281%29.png
34 Cartographic map of road setbacks existing for solar technology, based only on county ordinances as of April 2022. https://data.openei.org/files/6139/ops_road_map.png
48 Map of road setbacks existing for solar technology in TIF format. This is the extrapolated version where a default setback of 30 meters is applied in counties without specific roads setback regulations. A value of 0 indicates that solar energy is prohibited, while 1 indicates that solar energy is permitted. Due to size, a GIS software is likely needed to open this file. https://data.openei.org/files/6139/setbacks_road_reference%20%283%29.tif
33 In this, the 2023 edition of this report, we present new estimates of the technical potential for land-based wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) for the contiguous United States (CONUS). We also provide cost estimates for the available resources, presenting representative supply curves that can be used in downstream modeling and analysis. Additionally, we introduce new methodologies used to estimate wind capacity, wind energy losses, transmission cost and representation, updated technology cost and design, and scenarios of siting constraints designed to help bound the uncertainty of renewable potential. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy24osti/87843.pdf
48 Map of road setbacks existing for solar technology in TIF format, based only on county ordinances as of April 2022. A value of 0 indicates that solar energy is prohibited, while 1 indicates that solar energy is permitted. Due to size, a GIS software is likely needed to open this file. https://data.openei.org/files/6139/ops_road.tif

Tags

  • data
  • tif
  • setbacks
  • pv
  • photovoltaic
  • solar
  • roads
  • regulatory-constraints
  • png
  • road
  • solar-energy
  • infrastructure
  • power
  • siting-lab
  • solar-pv
  • setback
  • regulation
  • county-ordinance
  • sitinglab
  • solar-power
  • regulatory
  • energy

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