An expanded renewable energy zoning database from the University of Michigan brings together more than 1,600 local ordinances from six Great Lakes states.

The Energy Zoning Database is designed to simplify matchmaking between renewable energy developers and interested host communities in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Recent federal policy incentives coupled with declining prices have increased the market for renewable energy, with companies and utilities eager to add more wind and solar to the energy mix.

But until now, information about renewable energy zoning ordinances has been scattered across small local-government websites—or in the case of many rural communities, in paper files.

The 1,600+ zoning ordinances currently in the database represent 50% of the region, and the team aims to cover at least 90% of rural areas in these six states in the next several months.