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SENATE FLOOR VERSION
April 17, 2025
ENGROSSED HOUSE
BILL NO. 1373 By: Boles and Crosswhite Hader
of the House
and
Green of the Senate
An Act relating to commercial solar facilities;
creating the Commercial Solar Facility
Decommissioning Act; defining terms; making certain
agreement provisions void; providing for certain
injunctive relief; stating certain provision s are not
exclusive; requiring agreement contain certain
provisions; requiring landowner make certain timely
request; requiring cert ain financial assurance be
delivered; stating acceptable forms of financial
assurance; requiring certain amount of financial
assurance; assigning ce rtain costs to grantee;
prohibiting certain cancellation of financial
assurance; 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 to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 820 of Title 17, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Commercial
Solar Facility Decommissioning Act ".
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SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 820.1 of Title 17, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
As used in Commercial Solar Facility Decommissioning Act:
1. "Generation assets" means all assets associated with the
production of electricity, including generation plants , electrical
interconnections of the generation plant to the transmission system,
fuel contracts, fuel transportation contracts, water contracts,
lands, surface or subsurface water rights, emissions -related
allowances, and gas pipeline interconnections ;
2. "Grantee" means a person, other than an electric utility
who:
a. leases property from a landowner, and
b. operates a solar power facility on the property;
3. "Solar energy device" means a solar energy collector or
solar energy system that provides for t he collection of solar energy
or the subsequent use of that energy as thermal, mechanical, or
electrical energy;
4. "Solar power facility " includes:
a. a solar energy device , and
b. a facility or equipment, other than a facility or
equipment owned by an e lectric utility, used to
support the operation of a solar energy device,
including an underground or aboveground electrical
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transmission or communications line, an electric
transformer, a battery storage facility, an energy
storage facility, telecommunicat ions equipment, a
road, a meteorological tower, or a maintenance yard;
and
5. "Solar power facility agreement " means a lease agreement
between a grantee and a landowner that authorizes the grantee to
operate a solar power facility on the leased property.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 820.2 of Title 17, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
The Commercial Solar Facility Decommissioning Act sh all apply
only to a solar power facility that is a generation asset as defined
in Section 2 of this act.
SECTION 4. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 820.3 of Title 17, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering , reads as follows:
A. A provision of a solar power facility agreement that
purports to waive a right or exempt a grantee from a liability or
duty established by the Commercial Solar Facility Decommissioning
Act is void.
B. A person who is harmed by a violation of the Commercial
Solar Facility Decommissioning Act is entitled to appropriate
injunctive relief to prevent further violation of the act.
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C. The provisions of this section are not exclusive. The
remedies provided in this section are in addition to any other
procedures or remedies provided by other law.
SECTION 5. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 820.4 of Title 17, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A solar power facility agreement shall provide that the
grantee is responsible for removing the grantee 's solar power
facilities from the landowner 's property and that the grantee shall,
in accordance with any ot her applicable laws or regulation s, safely:
1. Clear, clean, and remove from the property each solar energy
device, transformer, and substation;
2. For each foundation of a solar energy device, transformer,
or substation installed in the ground:
a. clear, clean, and remove the foundation from the
ground to a depth of at least three (3) feet below the
surface grade of the land in which the foundation is
installed, and
b. ensure that each hole or cavity created in the ground
by the removal is filled with so il of the same type or
a similar type as the predominant soil found on the
property;
3. For each buried cable, including power, fiber -optic, and
communications cables, installed in the ground:
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a. clear, clean, and remove the cable from the ground to
a depth of at least three (3) feet below the surface
grade of the land in which the cable is installed , and
b. ensure that each hole or cavity created in the ground
by the removal is filled with soil of the same type or
a similar type as the predominant soil fo und on the
property; and
4. Clear, clean, and remove from the property each overhead
power or communications line installed by the grantee on the
property at the request of the landowner .
B. The agreement shall provide that, at the request of the
landowner, the grantee shall:
1. Clear, clean, and remove each road constructed by the
grantee on the property; and
2. Ensure that each hole or cavity created in the ground by the
removal is filled with soil of the same type or a similar type as
the predominant soil found on the property.
C. The agreement shall provide that, at the request of the
landowner, if reasonable, the grantee shall:
1. Remove from the property all rocks over twelve (12) inches
in diameter excavated during the decommissioning or removal process;
2. Return the property to a tillable state using scarification,
V-rip, or disc methods, as appropriate; and
3. Ensure that:
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a. each hole or cavity created in the ground by the
removal is filled with soil of the same type or a
similar type as the predominant soil found on the
property, and
b. the surface is returned as near as reasonably possible
to the same condition as before the grantee dug holes
or cavities, including by reseeding pastureland with
native grasses prescribed by an appropriate
governmental agency, if any. Noninvasive grasses
shall be allowed when reseeding native grasses isn't
economically feasible.
D. The landowner shall make a request under subsection B or C
of this section not later than the one hundred eightieth day after
the later of:
1. The date on which the solar power facility is no longer
capable of generating electricity in commercial quantities; or
2. The date the landowner receives written notice of intent to
decommission the solar power facility from the grantee.
SECTION 6. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 820.5 of Title 17, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A solar power facility agreement shall provide that the
grantee obtain and delive r to the landowner evidence of financial
assurance that conforms to the requirements of this section to
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secure the performance of the grantee 's obligation to remove the
grantee's solar power facilities located on the landow ner's property
as described by Section 5 of this act. Acceptable forms of
financial assurance include a parent company guaranty with a minimum
investment grade credit rating for the parent company issued by a
major domestic credit rating agency, a letter of credit, a bond, or
another form of financial assurance reasonably acceptable to the
landowner.
B. The amount of the financial assurance must be at least equal
to the estimated amount by which the cost of removing the solar
power facilities from the lan downer's property and restoring the
property to as near as reasonably possible the condition of the
property as of the date the agreement begins exceeds the salvage
value of the solar power facilities, less any portion of the value
of the solar power facil ities pledged to secure outstandi ng debt.
C. The agreement shall provide that:
1. The estimated cost of removing the solar power facilities
from the landowner's property and restoring the property to as near
as reasonably possible the condition of the pr operty as of the date
the agreement begins and the estimated salvage value of the solar
power facilities must be determined by an independent, third -party
professional engineer licensed in this state;
2. The grantee shall deliver to the landowner an updat ed
estimate, prepared by an indep endent, third-party professional
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engineer licensed in this state, of the cost of removal and the
salvage value:
a. on or before the tenth anniversary of the commercial
operations date of the solar power facilities , and
b. at least once every five (5) years after the
commercial operations date of the solar power
facilities for the remainder of the term of the
agreement; and
3. The grantee is responsible for ensuring that the amount of
the financial assurance remains sufficie nt to cover the amount
required by subsection B of this section, consistent with the
estimates required by this subsection.
D. The grantee is responsible for the costs of obtaining
financial assurance described by this section and costs of
determining the estimated removal costs and salvage value.
E. The agreement must provide that the grantee shall deliver
the financial assurance not later than the earlier of:
1. The date the solar power facility agreement is terminated;
or
2. The twentieth anniversary of the commercial operations dat e
of the solar power facilities located on the landowner 's leased
property.
F. For purposes of this section, "commercial operations date "
means the date on which the solar power facilities are approved for
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participation in market operations by a regional transmission
organization and does not include the generation of electrical
energy or other operations conducted before that date for purposes
of maintenance and testing.
G. The grantee may not cancel financial assurance b efore the
date the grantee has co mpleted the grantee's obligation to remove
the grantee's solar power facilities located on the landowner 's
property in the manner provided by this act, unless the grantee
provides the landowner with replacement financial as surance at the
time of or before the cancellation. In the event of a transfer of
ownership of the grantee 's solar power facilities, the financial
security provided by the grantee shall remain in place until the
date evidence of financial security meeting the requirements of this
act is provided to the landowner.
SECTION 7. This act shall become effective November 1, 2025.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON ENERGY
April 17, 2025 - DO PASS