10/13/2026
Who pays to clean up a solar farm when it shuts down?
Ah, yes. One of my favorite questions, one I’m asked several times per post, in comments that smugly assert confidence without expressing a single ounce of critical thinking.
Now, here’s something that might come as a shock: we have regulations for this. Strict ones.
Let’s talk specifically about New York, since that’s where I’m writing from, but keep in mind that almost every other state has similar-looking regulations as far as solar decommissioning goes.
(Yes, I’ve researched it. I wrote a book on agrivoltaics and believe it or not, traditional publishers prefer manuscripts with cited sources instead of 200+ pages of “trust me, bro, I know a guy.”).
Back to New York.
Here, large solar projects permitted through the state are required to have decommissioning plans AND financial security to pay for equipment removal and land restoration. The financial guarantee is calculated using estimated cleanup costs, plus a 15% contingency, minus projected salvage value. The financial security must remain in place until the project is fully decommissioned.
Now, before you darlings start furiously typing your “gotchas,” NO, that doesn’t mean every solar installation automatically has a decommissioning bond. Projects under 25 MW are permitted locally, so towns can (and typically do) require their own decommissioning plans and financial guarantees. Requirements vary by municipality, and some are stronger than others.
Should every commercial solar farm have an enforceable cleanup plan backed by adequate financial security? Absolutely, yes. Should those guarantees be reviewed periodically to account for changing costs? Also yes.
Look at me! Acknowledging that regulations can be improved without pretending the entire industry operates under the honor system. (There’s that critical thinking at work, folks!).
So let’s talk numbers. NYSERDA examined more than 100 New York solar decommissioning cost estimates produced between 2021 and 2024. The average was approximately $50,000 per megawatt in 2024 dollars, before contingencies and salvage value.
For perspective, that's roughly $5 MILLION in estimated cleanup costs for a hypothetical 100 MW project. The actual amount of financial security required depends on the project's specific estimates, contingencies and salvage value.
And providing that financial security is the developer’s responsibility, tied to the project, and meant to protect communities if the developer fails to fulfill its cleanup obligations.
While we're expressing such enthusiastic concern about who pays to clean up energy infrastructure, I'd love to discuss something else.
In November 2021, the federal government authorized $4.7 billion to address orphaned oil and gas wells and another $11.3 billion for abandoned coal mine reclamation.
That's $16 BILLION in federal funding allocated to address legacy pollution from energy infrastructure, including sites where the original operators are no longer available to pay for cleanup.
And yes, the coal industry contributes to certain reclamation funds, and modern fossil fuel operations have their own cleanup requirements. Still, the historical cleanup bill is substantial enough that we're still committing billions in public funding to address it to this day.
Somehow, though, I can post a picture of a sheep or cow standing under a solar panel and immediately get interrogated about who’s going to clean everything up in 30 years.
Listen, I’m delighted we’ve discovered environmental accountability. I’m a huge fan.
But perhaps we could find the same enthusiasm for addressing the environmental damage we're already spending billions to clean up, rather than reserving all our outrage for a hypothetical solar farm that hasn't even been decommissioned yet.
I'm all for holding energy companies accountable. ALL of them.
Apparently, environmental accountability is controversial when you apply it equally. I'll update my invoice for my Big Solar Shilling accordingly.
