Darlington County, South Carolina voted 5 to 3 to reject a 9 month moratorium on new solar and wind permits, then tightened setback and bond rules for future projects the same night

Darlington County, South Carolina rejects the solar moratorium

Darlington County, South Carolina voted 5 to 3 on September 10, 2026 to reject a solar moratorium, Ordinance 26 05, that would have frozen new solar and wind permits for 9 months. A moratorium is a temporary freeze that stops a government from accepting, reviewing or approving new applications while it decides on longer term rules. The vote means Darlington County keeps taking new solar and wind applications under the rules already on the books.

The moratorium was proposed partly because of Stripe Solar, a 417 acre solar project in the Kellytown area of Darlington County, proposed by Palladium Energy. Palladium Energy describes its own standard lease, on its own website, as running 30 to 40 years, with construction taking about 9 to 12 months. County leaders say Stripe Solar would surround more than 70 properties and is 1 of more than 30 solar developments already in planning or negotiation across the county.

What stayed the same and what changed the same night

Section 19.4 of the Darlington County code sets the rules a solar energy system has to follow. It requires a setback of 50 feet from a property line and 200 feet from the nearest home, limits the height of solar structures to 15 feet, and caps noise at 55 decibels. A project must also post a bond of 50,000 dollars no later than 30 days after the sixth anniversary of starting to generate power, kept in place until the system is fully decommissioned. None of that changed when the moratorium failed, since voting down a moratorium does not by itself change any existing rule.

Reading that code directly against the same night reporting on the vote shows what the result alone does not. At the same meeting where council rejected the moratorium, it gave first reading approval to a separate measure, Ordinance 26 06, that would raise the property line setback from 50 to 100 feet, raise the home setback from 200 to 600 feet, and move the bond deadline from 6 years after a project starts operating to 6 months after it first produces electricity, requiring 50,000 dollars or 125% of the estimated decommissioning cost, whichever is greater. Ordinance 26 06 has only had a first reading, and a South Carolina county ordinance ordinarily needs more than 1 reading before it takes effect, so it is not yet the law in Darlington County.

Landowners and council members on the record

Robert Cagle, a property owner whose land sits in the path of Stripe Solar, told the county why he opposed the freeze.

New restrictions could make our project unworkable and take away the opportunity we are legally entitled to pursue.

Robert Cagle, property owner. Source 1.

David Coker, a Darlington County Council member representing District 8, was one of the 5 votes against the moratorium.

I am comfortable with what we've put in our file for the past two years.

David Coker, Darlington County Council member, District 8. Source 1.

One fight inside a wider pattern

Darlington County is not alone in writing its own solar rules. The NC Clean Energy Technology Center, a university research center, counted 23 South Carolina counties with a solar specific ordinance already on the books as of its March 2026 dataset, against 69 in North Carolina.

Section 19.4 has been in force in Darlington County since a 2017 amendment, and the vote against Ordinance 26 05 keeps it there for now. Ordinance 26 06 is still headed toward further votes before any stricter setback or bond rule actually takes hold.