Lewis Roca Releases 2024 Update to Decommissioning End-Stage Renewable Energy Report
The first utility scale wind and solar power projects in the United States were developed in the early 1980s. As early-generation renewable projects reach the end of their useful lives and as new projects are being developed, owners, developers, and other project participants must consider whether to decommission, repower, or redevelop their projects. When the decision is to decommission the project, there are an increasing number of state laws and regulations that will apply. As such, project participants must consider:
- What are the existing regulatory requirements?
- What permits, approvals, or exemptions are
- needed?
- What are the regulatory risks and how best to plan
- for them?
- What regulatory and practical difficulties might
- arise in the absence of clear regulatory or
- industry guidance?
In recent years, state legislatures have begun to impose specific decommissioning requirements for existing and new renewable energy facilities, such as bonding requirements, to ensure the responsible decommissioning of these facilities. These requirements
have the potential to affect participants at both ends of the project lifecycle.
This report provides an overview of each state’s requirements. Although this information is primarily applicable to owners and developers of new and legacy assets, it also strives to illuminate opportunities for partnership across research, industry, and government.
As one of the first legal analyses of its kind, the Lewis Roca Renewable Energy End-Stage Planning Report 3 provides renewable energy industry participants with the context needed to avoid costly missteps while also reaping all potential rewards of end-of-life planning.
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