North Carolina ranked second in the US for installed solar capacity for most of the past decade. The land-use story in 2026 is not one of shortage — there is plenty of flat agricultural land in eastern NC — but of regulatory friction stacking up in ways that have slowed developer activity across most of the state.
Three things changed the market in the last 18 months: Duke Energy's interconnection queue deepened, county-level zoning moratoria spread across the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, and on April 23, 2026, the North Carolina Utilities Commission ordered Duke to halt its entire 2026 solar procurement cycle pending a review of the state's carbon plan. A buyer who doesn't know this recent history will be evaluating land against a market that no longer exists.
Two utilities, one slow queue
Duke Energy controls most of North Carolina. There is no independent grid operator here — no PJM, no MISO. Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) covers the western Piedmont and foothills, including the Charlotte metro. Duke Energy Progress (DEP) covers the eastern Coastal Plain and the Triangle area. Both operate under FERC jurisdiction but run separate interconnection queues.
The split matters for site selection. DEC territory carries the heavier queue: in early 2026, Duke Energy Carolinas held 75 projects totaling 11.31 GW of pending interconnection requests. Most won't build. But Duke studies projects in clusters, meaning your project's timeline depends on who else entered the queue in the same window and what transmission constraints those projects collectively trigger. Studies in DEC territory have historically taken two to three years or longer to complete.
DEP territory, covering the eastern half of the state, runs a smaller queue and has attracted more independent power producer activity over the past decade. How interconnection queues actually work — the cluster process, the study sequence, the deposit requirements — matters more in Duke's non-ISO market than in most: there's no public market operator providing an independent read on congestion or available capacity. NCSEA has published maps showing capacity awaiting interconnection at substations across the state, and the differences are significant. A parcel 1.5 miles from a congested substation in DEC territory can be harder to develop than one 3 miles from a less-loaded interconnection point in DEP territory.
The practical question for any site evaluation isn't just "how far is the substation?" It's "how much of that substation's capacity is already spoken for?" Distance and available capacity are different things.
The procurement pause
On April 23, the NCUC ordered Duke Energy to defer its 2026 Solar RFP — a 770-megawatt procurement round that was part of Duke's Carolinas Resource Plan, approved by the Commission in November 2024 and targeting 3,460 MW of new solar by 2031. The Commission directed Duke to hold the RFP until it completes a broader review of the state's Carbon Plan before signing any new contracts under that solicitation.
The review was triggered by the NC General Assembly eliminating the state's 2030 carbon reduction deadline in 2025, which required Duke to revise its resource plan assumptions. NCUC hearings on the updated Carbon Plan are scheduled to begin in June 2026; a final Commission order is not expected before late 2026.
The distinction matters for land buyers: this pause applies to Duke's procurement of new solar contracts, not to the interconnection process itself. Developers with existing interconnection agreements can still advance their projects through Duke's study queue. But developers who were pursuing sites in anticipation of a new Duke contract now face an indeterminate wait before any procurement window opens. Lease offers that were close to execution may be delayed or revised as developers reassess their development timelines.
The county moratorium wave
Parallel to the utility-level slowdown, a pattern of county-level permitting restrictions developed across NC starting in late 2024.
Davidson County passed a 24-month moratorium on new solar permits in December 2024 while it works through new zoning overlay rules. Halifax County enacted a 120-day temporary moratorium on solar Special Use Permits in October 2024 — that restriction expired in February 2025, but it signaled a shift in commission sentiment that has continued in other forms. Northampton County imposed restrictions. Edgecombe County followed with its own moratorium. And Robeson County — which holds more operating solar farms than any other county in NC, approximately 40 installations — has debated capping new permits as community opposition to the pace of development intensified.
These moratoria concentrate in the same counties that look best on a parcel screen: flat terrain, inexpensive agricultural land, no obvious constraints. A buyer who filters for flatness and low prices in eastern NC will land on exactly the counties that have moved fastest to restrict new solar development. The correlation isn't accidental.
Moratorium status is now a first-pass check, before acreage, substation distance, or financial modeling. County planning department websites and recent commission meeting agendas are the most reliable source. The NC State Extension farm law program has tracked solar ordinance changes across counties if you need a starting point.
Where development is still moving
Active solar development concentrates in two parts of the state.
The southeastern Coastal Plain — south and east of Robeson — still has open permitting environments and established development pipelines. Columbus County was working through its 15th solar project as of 2023 and has continued adding capacity since. Bladen and Brunswick counties carry similar profiles: flat terrain, good irradiance, and less permitting saturation than Robeson. The constraint to verify here is wetlands. The Coastal Plain has meaningful palustrine wetland coverage in low-lying areas — parcels that clear every other filter can still fail the NWI screen in this region.
The central NC corridor from Johnston County through Harnett and Lee counties toward the Triangle attracts developer interest because of load proximity. The US Department of Energy awarded $57 million to Duke Energy in 2024 to reconstruct the 230-kV Lee-Milburnie transmission line running through Wake, Johnston, and Wayne counties — direct investment in grid infrastructure designed to absorb new generation. Parcels near upgraded transmission lines have better interconnection prospects than those tied to older distribution-level infrastructure.
| County | Region | Permitting environment |
|---|---|---|
| Columbus | Southeast Coastal Plain | Open, active pipeline, DEP territory |
| Bladen | Southeast Coastal Plain | Open, less saturated than Robeson |
| Brunswick | Southeast Coastal Plain | Active, manageable flood and wetland profile |
| Johnston | Central NC (DEP) | Triangle load proximity, transmission upgrades underway |
| Lee | Central NC (DEP) | Active queue activity, load center access |
| Robeson | Southeast | Most solar in NC, but moratorium discussions — verify status |
Lease rates in 2026
NCSEA's 2025 update to its North Carolina solar land use study puts the typical utility-scale lease range at $750 to $1,400 per acre per year. The broader real-world range runs from below $500 to over $2,000, depending on location.
| Region | Range ($/acre/year) | Primary driver |
|---|---|---|
| Western Piedmont, DEC territory | $600–$1,100 | Heavy queue backlog, procurement pause uncertainty |
| Central NC, Triangle corridor | $800–$1,400 | Load proximity, active transmission investment |
| Eastern Coastal Plain, DEP territory | $750–$1,300 | Stronger IPP market, more available grid capacity |
| Robeson / Bladen / Columbus area | $600–$1,050 | Permitting uncertainty and high existing saturation |
The procurement pause is already influencing what developers offer. A site that would have received an offer at $1,100/acre in late 2025 may come in lower in 2026 as developers wait for the Commission's Carbon Plan order before committing. The spread compresses if the NCUC order comes in with a strong solar procurement target; it widens if Duke's new resource plan significantly reduces contracted solar.
What to verify before making an offer
Duke operating company. Identify whether the parcel sits in DEC or DEP territory using Duke's service area map. Different queues, different congestion levels, different development timelines.
County moratorium status. Check the county planning department site and recent commission meeting minutes before any other analysis. A moratorium on a parcel that otherwise screens well means no developer can permit it until the restriction lifts — most won't wait.
Special Use Permit requirements. Most NC counties require a Special Use Permit for solar installations above 1 MW, and what agricultural zoning allows for solar projects varies significantly by county. The SUP timeline runs 6–18 months and can be denied. Counties developing solar-specific overlay districts may add setback, screening, and decommissioning bond requirements that developers factor into their offer.
Wetlands and flood zone. Check the parcel in the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and the NWI Wetlands Mapper. Eastern NC carries real wetland exposure in low-lying areas — this filter catches sites that clear everything else. Utility-scale projects in NC typically require 50 contiguous usable acres at minimum; most viable developments run 150–500 acres.
Sunnyplans screens parcels against PAD-US protected areas and the National Wetlands Inventory and shows substation and transformer distances at the parcel level for North Carolina listings. If you want to see which sites have already cleared those filters, browse solar land listings in North Carolina by county.