No. SB 200
Filed under Development & Land Use.
Utilities; Authorizing a county to adopt an ordinance for the decommissioning of certain solar facilities that have reached the end of their useful life; authorizing a county to require financial assurance from a solar facility owner to establish that the solar facility owner has the capability to satisfy the estimated cost of decommissioning the solar facility; requiring that improvements included in certain transmission and distribution storm protection plans have forecasted customer benefits that exceed their forecasted cost, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCounties can now require solar farms to restore farmland to its original state within 24 months of the facility's useful life ending. This ensures agricultural land remains viable for farming after solar operations cease.
Solar owners must provide financial assurance, such as a bond or letter of credit, to cover the estimated cost of decommissioning. This protects counties from being left with the cost of removing abandoned or failed facilities.
The Public Service Commission must now ensure that storm protection improvements in utility plans provide customer benefits that exceed their forecasted costs. This prevents utilities from passing on the cost of inefficient storm protection projects to ratepayers.
AICreates a hard financial threshold that prevents utilities from recovering costs for storm protection improvements that do not pay for themselves.
AIGrants counties the power to force the removal of large solar facilities and restore land to agricultural use within a strict 24-month window.
AIRequires solar facility owners to post financial security to guarantee they can pay for the removal of their facilities.
AIRequires the Department of Environmental Protection to create and enforce construction standards, including 100-year storm resistance, for all solar facilities.
AIExpands the Public Service Commission's review criteria to include the reasonableness of implementation costs relative to expected benefits.