On the second to last day of the 2026 Legislative Session both the House and Senate passed H.710, REV’s priority legislation which fixes the problem of “single” plant determinations by the PUC and starts the process to replace the existing requirements of funding solar decommissioning. With both the Public Utility Commission and Department of Public Service in support, REV expects H710 to become law.
Clarifying the Definition of “Plant” in Statute
This change will allow for the more predictable and faster co-location of solar by establishing clear criteria for the PUC to make the determination of what constitutes a “single” plant. Clarifying this definition has been a REV priority for years because it has led to many good sites for solar not being available for development and additional costs when deploying solar. Learn more about the problems with “single” plant determinations here.
Specifically, H.710 Creates three exceptions to the definition of plant that lay out what projects qualify as exemptions to being a single plant:
1. Exemption for net-metering and self-consumption for projects on separate parcels of land that connect behind separate meters and supply different customers
2. Exemption for multi-owner net-metering on the same parcel that applies when the parcel has a common interest community (e.g. condo development) and projects are connected behind separate meters and supply different customers
3. Exemption for other co-location contingent on:
- Separate points of interconnection
- Compliance with net-metering/Standard Offer capacity thresholds and participation in just one of net-metering or Standard Offer programs, not both
Authorizing the PUC to create the Electric Generation and Energy Storage Facility Decommissioning Fund
This new fund will replace the existing decommissioning requirement for solar arrays 500kW and greater. Currently, the owners of these solar arrays are required to establish and maintain large letters of credit, surety bonds or escrow accounts as part of their CPG requirement. This unwieldy, time consuming process unnecessarily raises the cost of deploying solar in Vermont.
In legislative testimony, the PUC has:
- expressed the intention to open this new Fund to all existing CPG holders in order to create just a single decommissioning process for all existing and future CPG holders
- create an insurance-type fund that would require a single upfront payment based on best practices for decommissioning including factors such as expected valuation of salvage and expected rate of repowering of solar arrays instead of decommissioning
- work with stakeholders to ensure this decommissioning fund is financially appealing enough to existing CPG holders so they voluntarily enroll
- stated they would like this new fund up and running in 2027