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Session of 2025
SENATE BILL No. 233
By Committee on Federal and State Affairs
2-6
AN ACT concerning energy; relating to commercial wind and solar energy
facilities; establishing requirements for the decommissioning of such
facilities; requiring a county to enter into a decommissioning agreement
with a facility owner prior to construction of any such facility;
requiring the facility owner to provide financial assurance in an amount
sufficient to cover the costs of decommissioning; requiring
decommissioning costs to be paid by affected landowners under certain
circumstances.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. (a) (1) Prior to the construction of any commercial solar
energy facility or commercial wind energy facility in this state, the board
of county commissioners of the county where such proposed facility will
be located shall require the facility owner to enter into a decommissioning
agreement with the county. The decommissioning agreement shall
establish a sufficient, efficient and enforceable decommissioning plan for
the facility. The decommissioning plan shall require a facility owner to
decommission all generating units and applicable supporting facilities and
materially return and restore any land disturbed or changed as a result of
the construction, operation and decommissioning of the facility to the
condition that such land existed prior to such construction, operation and
decommissioning.
(2) The decommissioning plan shall be prepared by an independent,
third-party engineer licensed under the laws of this state. Such plan shall
include an estimate and description of the amount of financial assurance
that shall be sufficient for the facility owner to implement the
decommissioning plan. Such financial assurance cost estimate shall be
updated by such an engineer at least once every five years to account for
any inflation adjustments or other factors. The facility owner shall
reimburse the county for any costs borne by the county to contract with an
engineer pursuant to this section.
(3) The facility owner shall provide the financial assurance
determined pursuant to paragraph (2) in the form of an irrevocable standby
letter of credit, performance bond, surety bond or unconditional payment
guarantee executed by a parent company of the facility owner only if such
parent company maintains an investment grade credit rating. The county
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shall have the sole authority to determine the form of financial assurance
required pursuant to a decommissioning plan and may, from time to time
and as conditions may require, revise the form of financial assurance
required. Such financial assurance shall at all times be accessible by such
county so that the county may initiate decommissioning of the facility in
accordance with the terms and conditions of the decommissioning
agreement.
(b) Upon any change of ownership of a commercial solar energy
facility or commercial wind energy facility, a decommissioning agreement
entered into pursuant to this section shall be transferred to and all such
rights and obligations assumed by the subsequent facility owner.
(c) If a facility owner indicates an inability to complete
decommissioning, or is no longer in business, and the county is unable to
access the financial assurance to complete decommissioning in accordance
with a decommissioning plan entered into pursuant to this section, the
county shall decommission such facility in accordance with the
decommissioning plan and shall assess against any landowner who is
subject to a lease or easement relating to such facility the costs borne by
the county to decommission any such facility on such landowner's land.
Prior to the county bearing the costs to decommissioning any such facility
and assessing such costs against landowners as provided in this subsection,
the county may authorize any landowner to decommission any such
facility and may establish reasonable time limitations for the landowner's
completion of such decommissioning.
(d) Any decommissioning agreement entered into pursuant to this
section shall include meaningful remedy and penalty provisions for a
facility owner's noncompliance with such agreement, including a
requirement that when the county commences a civil action against a
facility owner with respect to the enforcement or interpretation of a
decommissioning agreement, the county shall be entitled to an award of
the county's costs of such litigation, including reasonable attorney fees,
from the facility owner. The county shall have authority to enforce a
decommissioning agreement by mandamus or other appropriate
proceeding at law or equity.
(e) As used in this section:
(1) "Commercial solar energy facility" means any device or assembly
of devices and supporting facilities that has a nameplate capacity of a least
one megawatt and uses solar energy to generate electricity for the primary
purpose of wholesale or retail sale.
(2) "Commercial wind energy facility" means any device or assembly
of devices and supporting facilities that has a nameplate capacity of at
least one megawatt and uses kinetic energy from the wind to generate
electricity for the primary purpose of wholesale or retail sale.
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(3) "Facility owner" means any person who has a direct ownership
interest in or who is acting as the developer or operator of a commercial
solar energy facility or commercial wind energy facility.
Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
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