Pennsylvania § 4303 - Financial assurance requirements in solar energy facility agreements.

§ 4303. Financial assurance requirements in solar energy facility agreements.

(a) Proof of financial assurance.--A grantee who executes a solar energy facility agreement on or after the effective date of this subsection shall provide a decommissioning plan, submit proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds and provide notice to the surface property owner party to the solar energy facility agreement. The financial assurance shall conform to the requirements of this chapter to secure the performance of the grantee's obligation to decommission the grantee's solar energy facility. If the grantee does not fulfill the grantee's obligation to decommission the solar energy facility, the financial assurance shall be made payable to the surface property owner.

(b) Amount of financial assurance.--The amount of financial assurance shall be equal to the estimated cost to decommission the solar energy facility. The amount of financial assurance shall be calculated and updated every five years by a third-party professional engineer retained by the grantee from a list of professional engineers compiled by the department and published on the department's publicly accessible Internet website.

(c) Delivery.--A grantee shall deliver a decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds in accordance with the following:

(1) No later than 30 days before the commencement of construction of the solar energy facility, the grantee shall provide the decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds in an amount equal to 10% of the estimated cost of decommissioning as determined by a third-party professional engineer.

(2) On or before the fifth anniversary of the commencement of construction of the solar energy facility, the grantee shall provide an updated decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds in an amount equal to 10% of the estimated cost of decommissioning as determined by a third-party professional engineer.

(3) On or before the 10th anniversary of the commencement of construction of the solar energy facility, the grantee shall provide an updated decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds in an amount equal to 40% of the estimated cost of decommissioning, less the facility's salvage value, except that the required proof of financial assurance shall not be less than 25% of the total estimated cost of decommissioning as determined by a third-party professional engineer.

(4) On or before the 15th anniversary of the commencement of construction of the solar energy facility, the grantee shall provide an updated decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds in an amount equal to 60% of the estimated cost of decommissioning, less the facility's salvage value, except that the required proof of financial assurance shall not be less than 40% of the total estimated cost of decommissioning, as determined by a third-party professional engineer.

(5) On or before the 20th anniversary of the commencement of construction of the solar energy facility, the grantee shall provide an updated decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds in an amount equal to 80% of the estimated cost of decommissioning, less the facility's salvage value, except that the required proof of financial assurance shall not be less than 60% of the total estimated cost of decommissioning, as determined by a third-party professional engineer.

(6) On or before the 25th anniversary of the commencement of construction of the solar energy facility, the grantee shall provide an updated decommissioning plan and proof of financial assurance to the county recorder of deeds in an amount equal to 100% of the estimated cost of decommissioning, less the facility's salvage value, except that the required proof of financial assurance shall not be less than 70% of the total estimated cost of decommissioning, as determined by a third-party professional engineer.

(7) The calculation of the salvage value of a solar energy facility by a third-party professional engineer shall be limited to salvageable steel, aluminum and copper.

(d) Forms of financial assurance.--Any of the following shall be an acceptable form of financial assurance:

(1) An escrow account.

(2) A certificate of deposit or an automatically renewable, irrevocable letter of credit from a financial institution chartered or authorized to do business in this Commonwealth and regulated and examined by a Federal agency or the Commonwealth.

(3) A bond executed between the grantee and a corporate surety licensed to do business in this Commonwealth.

(4) A negotiable bond of the Federal Government, the Commonwealth or a municipality within this Commonwealth.

(e) Transferability.--A decommissioning plan, the associated financial assurance and the salvage value of a solar energy facility to reduce the financial assurance may not be separated from the solar energy facility through a change in grantee ownership. The new grantee shall submit proof of financial assurance in accordance with subsection (a). The prior grantee may not release or revoke the prior grantee's financial assurance until the new grantee's proof of financial assurance is filed with the county recorder of deeds and notice is provided to the surface property owner party to the solar energy facility agreement.

Cross References. Section 4303 is referred to in section 4304 of this title.