Data-center law in Delaware
Subnational jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06
Delaware's data-center permitting spine runs through the three counties' own zoning codes (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex each maintain a separately codified zoning chapter, with no statewide siting statute), the Public Service Commission's general certificate of public convenience and necessity requirement for a public utility, DNREC's environmental permit for an air-contaminant or water-pollutant discharge, and, only within the statutorily defined coastal zone, the Coastal Zone Act's permit for a manufacturing or heavy-industry use.
Delaware has no sales-and-use tax to exempt in the first place, and Title 30 carries no data-center-specific gross receipts or income tax credit; the state's business tax credit chapters (Title 30, ch. 20A through 20F) name veterans, disability hiring, organ donation, and entertainment production, not data centers.
On the grid side, the newly enacted Load Forecast Accountability Act requires the Commission to audit and make transparent the load forecasts Delaware's electric distribution utilities submit to PJM Interconnection, citing data centers by name as the principal driver of projected load growth, but it creates no siting or interconnection duty of its own.
A companion bill, Senate Bill 205, would require a Public Service Commission Certificate to Operate before any entity begins using 30 megawatts or more of electricity; as of this review it has been reported out of committee to the Senate Ready List but has not passed a floor vote in either chamber, so it is not catalogued as an instrument.
01
Instruments on record
5 instruments on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.
Land use
Who decides whether a data center may occupy a site, and through what approval?
County zoning authority (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties)
In force
Del. Code Ann. tit. 9, § 2601 (New Castle County); ch. 49 (Kent County); chs. 68-69 (Sussex County)
Applies to both
New Castle County Council may regulate the location, height, bulk, and use of buildings and structures, including for industrial purposes, outside incorporated municipalities under Title 9, sec. 2601 of the Delaware Code, and a data-center rezoning or use approval in unincorporated New Castle County proceeds under this chapter.
Source: Full text of law
Environmental review
What impact review must precede approval, and who leads it?
Coastal Zone Act
In force
Del. Code Ann. tit. 7, ch. 70, §§ 7001, 7004
Applies to both
Within Delaware's statutorily defined coastal zone, new heavy industry is prohibited outright beyond the heavy-industry-use sites the Act already recognizes, and a manufacturing use not already operating as of June 28, 1971 may proceed only by a state-level permit issued under sec. 7004, considering environmental impact among other factors, and only after the county or municipality with jurisdiction has separately approved the use through its own zoning procedures.
A data center is not itself defined as a heavy-industry or manufacturing use under this chapter, so this Act reaches a data-center project only if it is sited within the coastal zone and the state classifies it as a covered manufacturing use; outside the coastal zone, or absent that classification, it does not apply.
Source: Full text of law
Energy and grid
What authorizations govern grid connection and onsite generation?
Certificate of public convenience and necessity for public utilities
In force
Del. Code Ann. tit. 26, § 203A
Applies to both
No person or entity may begin the business or operations of a regulated public utility without first obtaining from the Public Service Commission a certificate that present or future public convenience and necessity requires it.
A data-center operator that builds generation or transmission facilities and sells power to others, rather than consuming it solely on site, can fall within this general certificate requirement; a companion certificate exists for electric transmission utilities (sec. 203E) and for renewable energy interconnection facilities (sec. 203F).
Source: Full text of law
Load Forecast Accountability Act
In force
Del. Code Ann. tit. 26, §§ 715-719
Applies to private
Enacted in 2025 and set to expire December 31, 2035 unless extended, this Act directs the Public Service Commission to investigate the methodology, data, and assumptions Commission-regulated electric distribution companies use to develop the load forecasts they submit to PJM Interconnection, to access confidential interconnection contracts and commitments for that purpose, and to report annually to the General Assembly.
The General Assembly's own findings cite PJM's projection that data centers account for 30 of 32 gigawatts of expected regional load growth by 2030 as the reason for the Act. The Commission may promulgate regulations to implement the Act, but the Act itself creates no siting, permitting, or interconnection duty running to a data-center operator.
Source: Full text of law
Air and operations
What permits govern backup generators and ongoing emissions?
Environmental permit, air and water contaminant discharge
In force
Del. Code Ann. tit. 7, § 6003
Applies to both
No person may, without a permit from the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, undertake an activity that may cause or contribute to the discharge of an air contaminant, the discharge of a pollutant into surface or ground water, or the withdrawal of ground or surface water, or construct, install, or modify equipment intended to control such an emission or discharge.
Source: Full text of law
Every entry cites the instrument it describes.
None of it is legal advice: verify a citation before relying on it. Full
sourcing: read the methodology. The rest of the
record: all jurisdictions.