Pennsylvania enacts solar decommissioning legislation

With solar burgeoning, U.S. states are taking an increasingly active role in setting solar decommissioning policy.

In 2025 the U.S. solar industry installed 43 GW of new capacity, according to a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie. Additionally, the report expects the U.S. to add 490 GW of new solar capacity by 2036, bringing cumulative installed capacity to nearly 770 GW. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that the amount of potential solar panel waste could total to around 3,000 football fields by 2030.

Pennsylvania recently joined dozens of other states in passing solar decommissioning legislation. Senate Bill 349 requires decommissioning plans for ground-mounted solar projects 2 MW and larger and stipulates that solar developers decommission inactive solar projects within 18 months of ceasing operation.

“This is a bipartisan win for energy affordability, economic strength, and supporting landowners in Pennsylvania,” Tim Pawlenty, president and CEO of SEIA, said in a statement. “Senate Bill 349 provides clear expectations for developers and landowners while ensuring developers are responsible for meeting state requirements.”

SB 349 requires that project owners provide a decommissioning plan with financial assurance within 30 days of the start of construction and the plan must be updated every five years of operations. Furthermore, SB 349 increases financial assurance from 10% at five years to 100% (minus salvage value) at 25 years and this is payable to the property owner if decommissioning is not completed.

Financial assurance stipulates who is contractually obligated to return the land back to its previous state after the solar plant is no longer operational. The Pennsylvania bill is different from decommissioning legislation in other states in that decommissioning is the responsibility of the developer with the landowner being the beneficiary.

“A lot of statewide plans that require assurance often names the state as the beneficiary,” Brett Henderson, co-founder of SolarPanelRecycling told pv magazine USA. “What’s unique in Pennsylvania is the responsibility is on the developer and the landowner is the beneficiary.”

Unlike other states, however, the Pennsylvania law does not mandate a standard for disposal of solar modules and other components of a plant. This may seem like a misguided omission due to the massive amount of waste anticipated from solar projects retiring a few decades from now.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), an intergovernmental organization that supports countries transitioning to a sustainable energy future, several markets, including the United States, will “likely need to handle over a million tonnes of solar PV waste annually as of 2043.”

The omission of a recycling mandate in SB 349, however, may not be much of an issue decades from now because economics will play a role in whether solar installations are recycled or go to the landfill, Elowyn Corby, senior Mid-Atlantic regional director at Vote Solar, an energy justice nonprofit working for a 100% clean energy future, told pv magazine USA. “I do think recycling technology is increasing and the economics are becoming stronger,” she said.

Henderson concurred, noting that landfill costs are low right now in Pennsylvania, but that may change over time. Transportation costs are also a factor. Today the solar recycling industry is in its infancy, but it’s growing rapidly with businesses like SPR opening up new facilities in regions across the country.

“We’re building out this network to cut not only the transportation costs but the CO2 emissions that result from getting solar panels from the solar site to the recycling center,” Henderson said.

Overall, the bill is “pretty thoughtful” and provides certainty, Corby said, adding that “we would like other industries to be held to such high standards, especially in Pennsylvania.”

[Read As solar ages, states adopt differing approaches to decommissioning]