Renovo is a borough in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, United States, 28 miles (45 km) northwest of Lock Haven.

The town is the home of the "Flaming Foliage Festival" held each October, generally on the second weekend, celebrating the fall colors of the trees on the area's many mountains.

The economy of Renovo and the surrounding area was primarily based on lumbering, until the first-growth forest was almost entirely stripped away, and the industry collapsed.

The town was laid out on a mostly-flat flood plain along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in North-Central Pennsylvania, and was incorporated in 1866.

Unlike most "rural" towns and residential areas, Renovo was laid out in an industrially-oriented urban grid with avenues given names of the Great Lakes, and "side streets" numbered from 1 to 16.

One can still find newspaper ads and brochures extolling the restorative mountain air, clean water, and outdoor activities such as fishing and hunting.

The change in human activity over the years hasn't dimmed or substantially altered the natural environment of this Allegheny Mountain area of the larger Appalachian Highlands.

[citation needed] In the 1980s, Renovo was a pawn in a large scandal, which sought to defraud the United States Government of millions of dollars.

[7] In 1987, Chem-con filed for bankruptcy, and a company called American Coastal Industries resumed operations at the shop buildings, later going bankrupt too.

[8][9] In early 2015, the Clinton County Economic Partnership announced that it would be working with Renovo Energy Center LLC.

to plan out the construction of a new natural gas fired power plant on the site of the old Pennsylvania Rail Road shops across the tracks from Erie avenue.

asked the Pennsylvania DEP to review and change their clean air license to "make its operations more efficient and the plant more attractive to investors".

[11] On April 29, 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced the approval of the Renovo Energy Center project's air quality permit.

[12][13][14] After the permit's approval, Renovo Energy Center LLC contracted Letterle & Associates of Bellefonte, PA to conduct soil tests to assess the condition of the land.

[15] In on May 27, 2021, three environmental groups, Clean Air Council, Penn Future, and the Center for Biological Diversity, filed an appeal for the air quality permit, saying, "The permit allows the power plant to emit hundreds of tons of noxious pollutants annually and more greenhouse gases than the City of Pittsburgh.

“Our members are deeply concerned about the very high levels of harmful air pollution from Bechtel’s enormous proposed power plant and the negative health effects it could have on our families and friends,” said Sue Cannon with Renovo Residents for a Healthy Environment.

Renovo is located in north-central Clinton County at 41°19′43″N 77°44′54″W / 41.32861°N 77.74833°W / 41.32861; -77.74833 (41.327669, -77.749580),[20] along the West Branch Susquehanna River, at the bottom of a 1,000-to-1,200-foot-deep (300 to 370 m) gorge.

The vicinity of the town is one of the least densely populated areas in the eastern U.S. and was featured as such in the book The Last Empty Places (2010), by Peter Stark.