A bill introduced in the North Carolina state house aims to cut tax incentives in half for utility-scale solar projects and make it harder for them to be installed on agricultural land.
Introduced in the North Carolina house by Rep. Dixon (R), HB 729, or “The Farmland Protection Act,” would reduce the tax abatement for certain solar projects from 80% to 40% of the appraised value.
Additionally, HB 729 forbids utility-scale solar projects from being constructed if they are not certified as qualifying small power production facilities under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), unless the project is sited on a brownfield property, non-agricultural land, or timberland that has been clear-cut harvested and is not currently in production. Brownfields are idle commercial or industrial properties where redevelopment is hampered by real or perceived environmental contamination.
(See also: Duke faces pushback over North Carolina brownfield solar project)
Utility-scale solar projects with a generation capacity of at least 1 MW occupied 0.12% of the total land in North Carolina and 0.28% of its agricultural land as of the end of 2021, according to the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. The report noted that regardless of the small amount of agricultural land solar occupies in North Carolina, solar installations and certain agricultural practices can be co-located together, a practice known as agrivoltaics (also known as “dual-use solar“). According to North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, North Carolina has about 8.3 million acres of farmland.
(Read: Agrivoltaics business model analysis shows 16% to 43% return on investment)
Additionally, the bill requires owners of utility-scale solar projects to submit a decommissioning plan and establish financial assurance for utility-scale projects constructed prior to or after Nov. 1, 2025.
The bill was referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Environment.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), “North Carolina is a leader in utility-scale solar.” North Carolina went from 31st to 5th in the country for its total installed capacity at the end of last year, with 9.67 GW of capacity installed. According to SEIA, 9.65% of the state’s electricity comes from solar.
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There will be a day, sooner than you think, and we may already be there, when the environmental damage caused by this type of legislation is undeniable…and the bills sponsors are held financially responsible for damages to others caused by thier action / inaction. How would North Carolina feel about a bill to deny using my Wisconsin tax dollars from helping North Carolinians flooded by one of those “freak” hurricanes?
I am glad to have been seeing more, & more articles about how data centers will be located on private property (hopefully, “On Built/Disrupted Surfaces, Only”) – bought by interested AI companies’ owners. – No longer a need to put “interregional”, “large array” infrastructure cutting into valuable ag lands, and Last Stand natural desert wildlands. A company wants their center in the city where their work force will be living; they want to own their own water, basic solar power systems, and have their own site- and programming security. The natural environment doesn’t need to be sacrificed for their constantly evolving tech, engineering and Business culture.
We have recently found out that solar and ag work really well together. This is why anti science conservatives are attacking it.