Developers looking to try, or try again, to develop large-scale solar in Virginia have been asking questions. Given the new Virginia law, HB 711, are bans on solar really and truly banned? Is the list of authorized ordinance provisions a list of the only standards for solar development that can be imposed by a local jurisdiction, or just a list of required contents of provisions (setbacks, screening, etc.) if the jurisdiction has standards on those subject matters?
I know that at this moment, across the commonwealth — in public hearings, in county attorneys’ offices, at the water coolers in county office hallways, in the conference rooms of solar developers — there are smart people asking what this law means. Or more to the point, what has changed?
I think it’s changed a lot of things, but more on that in a moment.
A quick recap:
- In 2020, the Virginia legislature passed a law that clearly stated the state’s policy that renewable energy was the future and established a number of levers for developers and jurisdictions to use on the road to achieving 100% of the state’s energy being generated by renewables by mid-century.
- However, counties became increasingly hesitant to approve large-scale solar projects (not that it has ever been easy), a phenomenon replicated across the country.
- In the 2025 General Assembly, several bills were introduced that took the ability of Virginia counties to ignore state policy and effectively ban it (from an economic and/or practical standpoint). To many (rightly or wrongly), these bills looked like outright preemption of county authority.
- These bills failed, but the next year — this year — a bill was introduced that took a gentler tack, with the ambition to curb arbitrary limitations on solar that had created a crazy-quilt patchwork of impediments to solar development among Virginia counties.
- Because of its success in threading the needle between the clean energy mandate and county discretion, HB711 passed both chambers, became law in April, and will be effective on July 1, 2026.
HB711, which amended VA Code 15.2-2288.8 (“Special exceptions for solar voltaic projects”), has been called the “solar standards” bill. It has also been called a pyrrhic victory because, for all that it does, it does not limit counties’ ability to turn down solar projects. What does the bill definitely say?
- Localities shall require — replacing the old language of “may grant” — a special exception (often called a special use permit) or a siting agreement for any solar photovoltaic project (defined as a solar project of 1 MW or more that serves off-site electrical needs). This means that if solar is listed as a special use in a zoning class like Agriculture or Industrial, the county must allow the project to seek a special use permit
- Localities shall include in their zoning ordinance regulations and provisions “consistent with” the standards set forth in the new law. Provisions on these topics — setbacks, screening, fencing, panel height, visual impacts, light intensity, stormwater, land disturbance, pollinators, decommissioning, etc. — can be no more or less stringent than those standards unless the Applicant agrees
- Localities are still free to ultimately deny the special use permit application after a full and proper notice, hearing, and vote process
- The Board of Supervisors, after a denial, must explain to the Virginia State Corporation Commission “the reason for an adverse decision, any finding of nonconformance with the local comprehensive plan, and the date of last revision of that comprehensive plan”
- The law applies only to special use permit applications filed on or after July 1, 2026
Many developers have dwelt on the part that says that localities are still free to deny projects. Others have been more sanguine, pleased that punishing setback requirements and other crazy-quilt restrictions are no longer allowed, at least in the covered subject matters.
But there is widespread disagreement about whether HB711 sets forth the only standards that a locality can set for solar development — and related to that, whether that means that bans, pauses, acreage caps, radius restrictions, density limitations and other impediments that counties have erected to hobble the ability of solar projects in certain counties to even get to a special use permit hearing are now disallowed.
I say heck yes: (i) the law lays out the only allowable standards, and (ii) the days of acreage caps and other preemptive numerical limitations are over. Folks involved in the drafting and lobbying effort for HB711 back me up on that, and the Virginia Association of Counties, which fought HB711 hard, is of this view as well.
In this view of the world, local numerical-gating provisions like 2% density and one-mile radii cannot survive if they prevent a project from receiving the special-use permit review the statute requires.
I’m not so sure that everyone out there agrees with this yet.
To be fair, the law does not use the words “acreage caps,” “radius restrictions,” or “density restrictions.” It does not say, in a single sentence, that those types of provisions are prohibited.
But it’s a statute, not a magazine article; it’s not designed for easy reading.
And it is hard to unsee these words in HB 711: After July 1, “(a)ny project (greater than 1 MW) shall not be governed by any local ordinances inconsistent with this act.” It means what it means.
The core point is not complicated. HB 711 gives covered solar projects a required path to local review. Virginia counties still control the ultimate vote. They can still consider local impacts. They can still impose lawful conditions. They can still deny projects that do not satisfy the applicable standards.
What they should not do is keep ordinance provisions that prevent covered projects from ever reaching that stage.
As they say, let’s see how this all shakes out.
Jared Burden is a Virginia-based attorney whose practice includes assisting solar and storage developers in seeking special use permits, rezonings, and other land-use approvals throughout Virginia’s 99 counties. He is a partner in the Virginia law firm GreeneHurlocker. jburden@greenehurlocker.com
