Solar Panel Decommissioning and Financial Assurance Questionnaire

Utility -Scale Solar Decommissioning/Financial Assurance Questionnaire for NC Counties
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) has been directed by the North Carolina General
Assembly through Session Law 2021-165 (House Bill 951) to develop a plan to ensure adequate financial resources for the
decommissioning of utility -scale solar projects to be submitted to the General Assembly for legislative action no later than
March 1, 2022.
In North Carolina, any requirements for utility -scale solar decommissioning or decommissioning with financial assurance
are currently administered on the county level. The table below gives the number of counties with requirements for solar
facility decommissioning and financial assurance.
County -Level Requirements for Solar Decommissioning and Financial Assurance
Category of Requirement
Number of Counties
Decommissioning Only
28
Decommissioning with Financial Assurance
32
No Decommissioning/Financial Assurance
40*
*18 Counties do not have utility -scale solar facilities in the county
To assist with the plan's development, NCDEQ is seeking feedback from all North Carolina counties on utility -scale solar
facility decommissioning and financial assurance regardless of the current status of these requirements in your county. The
information provided will be summarized and included in the report to the General Assembly. Your participation is
voluntary, and please feel free to provide additional information if you deem it relevant to the development of this
plan. NCDEQ appreciates your time as any input supplied below is valuable in the plan's development process.
Unfortunately, there is a very tight deadline so any information you provide needs to be submitted as soon as possible. If
you choose to participate, please email your responses to, Jenny Patterson at [e-mail]. To expedite
distribution of this information to interested parties, this questionnaire was emailed to the County Manager, and when
email addresses are available, also to the Chair of the County Commissioners, and the County agency responsible for
oversight of ordinances (e.g., Planning and Zoning or similar).
1) Has your county experienced utility -scale solar facility abandonment issues? If yes, describe the issue(s)
experienced?
2) Are you aware of lease agreements/contracts between solar developers and landowners that contain
decommissioning and/or financial assurance requirements?
3) For counties with solar facility decommissioning or decommissioning with financial assurance requirements:
a) Do you review lease agreements as a part of the county application/approval process?
b) How is the oversight of this program funded at the county level?
4) For counties without solar facility decommissioning or financial assurance requirements, has your county considered
instituting requirements for utility -scale solar facilities?
a) If you answered yes, please describe conceptual requirements.
5) If baseline minimum standards were established statewide for utility -scale solar facility decommissioning and
financial assurance, which of the following is your county's preference:
o County -level administration of the program,
o State -level administration of the program (where administration would no longer be on the county level), or
o A hybrid approach where the county administers the program, and the state provides oversight for consistency.