California Solar and Battery Storage Projects: Opt-In Conditions, Battery Safety and County Decommissioning Security

The CPUC adopted General Order 167-C by Resolution ESRB-13 on March 13, 2025, implementing Public Utilities Code section 761.3 as amended by SB 1383 (Stats. 2022, ch. 725) and SB 38 (Stats. 2023, ch. 377). Storage owners must keep the emergency response and emergency action plan section 761.3(g) requires, and Senator Laird's office said those plans are developed with local responders and submitted to the county and city.

An ESS Owner is any person or entity that owns, controls, operates, maintains or manages an ESS facility, so independent power producers fall within it; publicly owned utility storage and customer-owned distributed storage are excluded. Assets under 50 megawatts are exempt from the full operation standards, and new assets file an initial certification within 90 days of active service, or 180 days after the effective date if later. Underwriters typically ask for these plans when pricing fire, pollution and liability exposure.

No countywide decommissioning code section was readable for this page; what follows are the conditions the County adopted for the Sandrini Solar project on January 25, 2022. Mitigation measure 4.11-1 requires a Decommission Plan before any building permit, with a cost estimate that assumes the County hires a contractor after abandonment, net of salvage value. Security may be an irrevocable letter of credit, a surety bond, a trust fund or another assurance the County approves; the issuer gives 30 days' notice before terminating, and the amount is reviewed every 5 years at the operator's cost. Removal is due within 60 days of County notice after 24 consecutive months out of operation.

The same conditions required a secured road-repair agreement backed by video logs and a Fire Safety Plan approved by the Kern County Fire Department before grading or building permits. Each project's conditions control.

Board Policy B-29, adopted November 8, 2011, and amended May 21, 2013, bars Ordinance No. 348 or 460 approval of a solar power plant until the Board approves a development agreement, and encroachment permits also need a franchise. Plants of 20 megawatts or less are exempt unless applications were split. The owner must contractually require contractors and subcontractors with contracts over $100,000 to hold a Board of Equalization jobsite sub-permit, with the contractor list due before grading.

The County's solar supplemental application form asks for a closure and site restoration plan with "proposed provisions for financial security." No security amount, form or release trigger was verified for this page; those are set in each development agreement and the project's conditions, so confirm them with the County.

The County's development code as posted, shown in the existing-code exhibit of an October 21, 2021, Planning Commission staff report, requires a closure, revegetation and rehabilitation plan for commercial solar under section 84.29.070, approved before building permit, with above-ground structures removed to 3 feet below grade. A required finding is that "adequate surety is provided for reclamation" if production stops for 180 continuous days or the site is abandoned.

The same report proposed a section 84.29.120 under which the surety stays in effect through operation until reclamation and revegetation are complete, with the amount adjusted for disturbed lands and inflation. Board adoption was not confirmed for this page, so confirm the current text with Land Use Services.

These facts come from County documents filed on the state CEQAnet site. In the conditions the County adopted for the Drew Solar project in 2019, a Reclamation and Decommissioning Plan is due before the first grading or building permit, restoring each CUP area to its pre-project agricultural condition. Security is "financial assurance/bonding in an amount equal to a cost estimate prepared by a California-licensed general contractor or civil engineer." Fair-share haul-route road payments are due in full before grading, building and encroachment permits. The project could run up to 40 years.

For stand-alone storage, the County's February 2025 initial study for the Saavi Imperial Power battery project lists battery storage as a conditional use in the M-2 zone, with a 40-year CUP followed by decommissioning. Each project's conditions control.

A decommissioning or reclamation bond is a surety obligation, not insurance. On a 30- to 40-year project with 5-year reviews or inflation adjustments, the amount can rise, and a surety typically weighs the term, the recalculation method and cancellation notice before writing it. Some sureties may ask for collateral or broader indemnity, and a letter of credit uses bank capacity instead, subject to underwriting.

During construction, builders risk with delay coverage, contractors' pollution liability and project liability limits are typically matched to the storage system's fire profile. Terms can vary by carrier guidelines and programs.