HB 2618
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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fifty-sixth Legislature
First Regular Session
HB 2618: decommissioning; solar and wind; standards
Sponsor: Representative Griffin, LD 19
Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water
Overview
Requires county approval for permits to install solar or wind energy power plants and outlines
requirements for the plant's location, site preparation, financial assurances, liability insurance,
repairing damage to the plant, decommissioning the plant and transferring or selling the plant.
History
Counties may form planning and zoning commissions to plan for land uses within the county.
Districts may be zoned for various classes of residential, business and industrial uses.
Additionally, county zoning ordinances must take into account access to incident solar energy
(A.R.S. § 11-811).
A county board of supervisors may adopt a comprehensive plan to guide and coordinate
development within the county. For counties with more than 125,000 people, these plans must
include consideration for access to incident solar energy for all general categories of land uses.
The comprehensive plans for counties with fewer than 125,000 people are not required to include
this consideration (A.R.S. § 11-804).
A county building permit is required for any major construction or additions that occur outside of
the boundaries of municipalities with building permit ordinances. In particular, counties must adopt
certain standards for issuing permits to build solar panel systems that will connect to a utility
system. These standards require:
1) The system's location to be indicated on the construction plans, including the roof plan
and elevation;
2) The panel mounting details be included in the installation plans;
3) Electrical diagrams with one-line and three-line diagrams; and
4) A cutsheet and listing for inverters when conversions from direct current to alternating
current occur.
A county may not require a professional engineer's stamp for a solar panel system unless the
county deems it necessary (A.R.S. §§ 11-321 and 11-323).
Provisions
Application Requirements (Sec. 1)
1. Requires someone who wishes to install a solar or wind energy power plant to apply for a
permit with the county where the plant will be located.
2. Clarifies that any limitations on where a solar or wind energy power plant can be located do
not apply to residual power returning to the grid that is provided by small-scale systems that
primarily provide on-site power, subject to Arizona Corporation Commission rules.
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note HB 2618
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3. Specifies that site-specific conditions or project scope, or both, may require the applicant to
provide the county with certain information and analyses, such as environmental impact
assessments or environmental impact statements and:
a) For solar energy power plants, Federal Aviation Administration obstruction analyses and
cultural resource assessments; and
b) For wind energy power plants, visual impact analyses.
Transfer and Sale (Sec. 1)
4. Prohibits the transfer of a solar or wind energy power plant or special use permit or the sale
of the entity owning the plant without written acceptance by the transferee of the obligations
required under this act.
5. Specifies that the transfer or sale does not eliminate the applicant's liability or responsibility
(or that of any other party) for acts or omissions occurring before transfer or sale.
6. Authorizes a county to reassess the amount of bond when a transfer of unit ownership occurs
and request an additional amount be posted to provide adequate surety that the current owner
or operator will reimburse the county for any costs associated with these activities.
Curing Damage and Cessation of Use (Sec. 1)
7. Directs the solar or wind energy power plant owner or operator to cure any deficiency within
90 days of written notice from the county if any part of the plant is damaged or violates a
permit condition.
8. Instructs the applicant or any successors or assigns to remove the plant and restore the site
at its own expense (consistent with a decommissioning plan) if the plant remains continuously
nonfunctional or inoperative of over a year.
Decommissioning Plan (Sec. 1)
9. Requires all solar and wind energy power plant applications to include a decommissioning
plan that is acceptable to the county to ensure that all system components are properly
decommissioned at the end of their operational life.
10. Mandates the decommissioning plan indicate how the facility will be decommissioned and
include a professional engineer's cost estimate of decommissioning, the financial resources
that will be used for decommissioning, and financial assurance needed to fund the
commissioning.
11. Requires the removal of a system include all above ground components and comply with
certain criteria, including that the removal must be complete within a year unless otherwise
approved by the county.
12. Prescribes requirements for site restoration including:
a) Minimizing ground disturbance and restoring the original ground contours;
b) Reasonably restoring and re-establishing disturbed on-site soils and vegetation using
native seed mix and appropriate soil nutrients;
c) Restoring roads to their original condition;
d) Allowing access roads, fencing, drainage improvements and other minor improvements to
remain with landowner's consent; and
e) Removing and remediating any hazardous materials.
13. Authorizes the county to enter the site after providing reasonable notice to the property own
to complete the decommissioning plan.
HB 2618
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Financial Assurance (Sec. 1)
14. Requires the plant owner or operator to continuously maintain financial assurance (starting
before construction begins) in the amount of decommissioning costs determined by a licensed
engineer.
15. Requires the owner or operator to pay all costs for the financial assurance.
16. Instructs the owner or operator to update this cost estimate every five years.
17. Allows the county to use the financial assurance for the costs of correcting other acts of
noncompliance associated with the site requirements.
Liability Insurance (Sec. 1)
18. Requires the solar energy power plant owner or operator to maintain a liability insurance policy
to cover installation and operation costs and include the account as an additional insured with
the designation of primary and noncontributory.
19. Requires the applicant to immediately notify the county if the liability insurance policy
undergoes any changes or is cancelled.
Solar Energy Power Plant Specific Requirements (Sec. 1)
20. Directs a county to issue a permit for a solar energy power plant in:
a) Light industrial and high industrial areas;
b) Rural zoning and general business zoning districts by special use authorization; or
c) As part of a professional development or master development plan.
21. Outlines the following site development standards that apply for permitting, constructing and
operating a solar energy power plant:
a) Ground or pole-mounted systems may not exceed 20 feet in height;
b) Roof-mounted systems may not exceed 10 feet in height from the roof surface;
c) A solar energy power plant's setbacks from all property boundaries and road travel ways
must be at least twice the minimum setback requirement for the respective zoning district
or must equal the height of the tallest structure, whichever is greater;
d) Setback distance must be measured from the edge of the solar energy system array
(excluding security fencing), screening or berm;
e) A minimum distance is not required between solar energy power plant components or
design features and other structures on a property;
f) A ground-mounted solar energy system is exempt from lot coverage or impervious surface
standards if the soil under the collector is maintained with perennial vegetated
groundcover and not compacted;
g) The ground around and under solar panels and in project site buffer areas must be
planted, established and maintained for the life of the solar project with vegetated
perennial ground cover;
h) All on-site utility and transmission lines must be buried underground to the maximum
extent feasible, except that power and communication lines between the project and the
point of interconnection with the transmission system may be overhead; and
i) The site's perimeter fencing must incorporate wildlife-friendly fencing standards specific
to the site to the greatest extent possible.
Wind Energy Power Plants Specific Requirements (Sec. 1)
22. Authorizes the county to issue a permit to a wind energy power plant that is constructed
primarily to provide electricity to an off-site consumer or that is allowed by special used
authorization in:
a) A growth area with rural zoning in outlying rural areas that are between cities and
unincorporated communities that are characterized by low growth rates, unimproved HB 2618
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roads, low density, large lot rural residential development, agricultural production and
large tracts of undeveloped lands; or
b) General business, light industrial or high industrial zoning districts.
23. Outlines the following site development standards that apply for permitting, constructing and
operating a solar energy power plant:
a) Exempts a plant for height limits;
b) Requires setbacks from all property boundaries and road travel ways for this plant to be
equal to the tallest structure with the blades fully extended plus 10 feet;
c) Requires a minimum setback of 1,000 feet to any existing residence, school, nursing home
or hospital for wind turbines and any associated structures;
d) Specifies that the distance between structures must be equal to the fully extended height
of the structure plus 10 feet for freestanding wind turbines;
e) Prohibits noise generated from a wind energy power plant system from exceeding 50
decibels except during short-term events;
f) Forbids light fixtures or illumination on the wind energy power plant except as required by
the Federal Aviation Administration or applicable federal, state or local law;
g) Requires the application include a copy of the Federal Aviation Administration's
determination to establish required markings and lights for the structure;
h) Prohibits signs from being attached to the wind energy power plant except for
manufacturer's logos, emergency notification information or appropriate warning signage;
i) Requires all transmission lines from the tower to any building or other structure associated
with the structure to be underground to the maximum extent practicable;
j) Requires all turbines and towers included in the application to be painted in a neutral color
with matte or nonreflective finishes; and
k) Stipulates that a wind energy power plant system and transmission poles may only be
construct with a tubular tower or monopole structure.
24. Requires a wind energy power plant to be maintained in operational condition at all times
except for reasonable maintenance and repair outages.
25. Authorizes a county to require additional measures to mitigate any site-specific conditions to
lessen negative impacts uncovered by any supplemental reports include in the application.
26. Mandates that the wind energy power plant system be equipped with a redundant braking
system that includes aerodynamic overspeed controls and mechanical brakes that must be
operated in a fail-safe mode.
27. Requires the following warning signs to be posted, all of which must contain emergency
contact information:
a) At least one warning sign posted at the tower's base warning of electrical shock or high
voltage; and
b) A sign on the entry area of any fencing surrounding each tower or group of towers and
any building or (if there is no fence) on the tower or building.
28. Prohibits climbing pegs and tower ladders from being within 12 feet of ground level at the
based of the structure for freestanding single pole or guyed towers.