Solar setbacks; creating the Commercial Solar Facility Setback Act. Effective date.

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STATE OF OKLAHOMA

2nd Session of the 60th Legislature (2026)

SENATE BILL 1935 By: Murdock

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to solar setbacks; creating the
Commercial Solar Facility Setback Act; providing
short title; defining terms; establishing certain
setback requirements; stating criteria for which
certain agreement applies; clarifying scope of
application; providing for noncodification; providing
for codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law not to be
codified in the Oklahoma Statutes reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Commercial
Solar Facility Setback Act”.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 810 of Title 17, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. As used in this section:
1. “Balance of plant systems” means the electrical, structural,
mechanical, communications, and civil systems necessary to support,

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operate, monitor, and deliver energy from a utility-scale solar
energy facility, excluding the photovoltaic modules. Balance of
plant systems includes inverters, transformers, wiring and
collection systems, racing or tracking equipment, foundations, site
communications and control systems, access roads, drainage
improvements, and other supporting infrastructure located within the
project boundary;
2. “Original generation interconnection agreement date” means
the effective date of the first executed generation interconnection
agreement (GIA) between a generation facility and the Southwest
Power Pool (SPP) under the Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) of
the SPP that establishes the facility’s initial interconnection
rights and obligations;
3. “Overhead infrastructure” means distribution- and
transmission-related equipment that is not buried or otherwise
primarily attached to the ground;
4. “Participating residence” means a residence located on a
parcel that is subject to a written agreement with the owner or
operator of a utility-scale solar energy facility concerning siting,
compensation, easement, or participation;
5. “Repowering” means the replacement, upgrade, or
refurbishment of one or more components of a utility-scale energy
facility including photovoltaic modules, inverters, racking, wiring,
electrical equipment, or balance of plant systems without relocating

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the facility’s original point of interconnection or expanding the
project boundary. Repowering shall not mean new construction,
expansion, or reconfiguration for the purposes of applying or
recalculating any setback established under this section including,
but not limited to, setbacks from residences, property lines, public
roads, or non-project-related overhead infrastructure;
6. “Residence” means a single-family detached dwelling that the
occupant owns or leases and uses as the individual’s principal place
of dwelling for at least nine (9) consecutive months during each
calendar year and is the individual’s declared and actual home for
that period as evidenced by the listed address on two or more of the
following documents: driver license, state income tax filing, voter
registration, or nine (9) months of utility bills. Residence does
not include:
a. any dwelling held primarily for seasonal,
recreational, vacation, or secondary-home use,
b. any mobile home, manufactured home, house trailer,
tiny home on wheels, recreational vehicle, or other
relocatable structure, unless installed on a permanent
foundation, or
c. any multi-unit residential structure including, but
not limited to, condominiums, townhouses, or apartment
buildings; and

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7. “Utility-scale solar energy facility” means an electric
generating facility that uses photovoltaic or solar-thermal
technologies with a nameplate capacity greater than one (1) megawatt
alternating current (AC) designed to deliver energy to the electric
grid and not primarily to on-site load.
B. 1. Utility-scale solar energy facilities, excluding
residential solar energy panels, shall not be located within one
hundred twenty-five (125) feet of a participating or non-
participating residence unless this requirement is waived in writing
by the residence owner. Non-project-related overhead infrastructure
shall not be located within fifty (50) feet of the edge of a public
road; provided, however, this shall not apply to project-related
overhead interconnection lines including generation interconnect
lines where a crossing or necessary alignment is required to reach
the point of interconnection.
2. The setback provisions established in paragraph 1 of this
subsection shall be measured using industry standard practices and
no extra setback or buffer shall be required. Setbacks shall be
measured from the closest electric generating equipment such as
solar panels, inverters, or transformers to the residence or
property line. Fences, access roads, operations buildings, and
similar facilities are not subject to the setback requirements as
provided in this subsection.

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C. 1. Repowering of a utility-scale solar energy facility
shall not require the application of new or modified setbacks
adopted after the facility’s original GIA date. Setbacks applicable
to the facility at the time of the original GIA date shall remain as
the controlling setbacks for the repowered facility.
2. a. An amendment or replacement of the GIA shall not
create a new original GIA date unless the SPP
determines under the OATT that the change is a
material modification and the change either:
(1) relocates the point of interconnection, or
(2) increases the facility’s net nameplate capacity
by more than twenty percent (20%) and requires a
new system-impact study.
b. The repowering of a utility-scale solar energy
facility shall not be considered a material change for
purposes of determining or resetting the facility’s
original GIA date and shall not require a new or
restated GIA unless the owner seeks to relocate the
point of interconnection or expand the project
boundary.
c. Any other administrative or technical revision shall
not reset the original GIA date.
D. The provisions of this section shall not apply to
residential solar energy panels.

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SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2026.

60-2-3334 CN 1/15/2026 8:56:32 AM