Twenty-three states now have a statewide solar decommissioning policy, and more than half of all states took legislative action on solar and storage decommissioning in 2025, according to the January 2026 snapshot from the 50 States of Solar Decommissioning tracker. That is the good news and the problem in one sentence. The rules exist. They just do not match from one state line to the next, and a decommissioning plan that clears a county board in Texas can miss a registration deadline in North Carolina or a waste-handling rule in California.
This guide lays out solar farm decommissioning regulations the way a project owner meets them: the federal floor, the plan and permit steps, a state-by-state table with the governing rule named for each state, then the documents a regulator or lender will ask to see. Every state rule was checked against the official agency or legislature page in September 2026. Where we could not confirm a rule on an official page, we left it out.
One framing point first. Solar decommissioning regulations are three overlapping bodies of law: hazardous waste law (what the panels are once you unbolt them), land use law (what you promised the county and the landowner at approval) and transport law (how the panels move). Most compliance failures come from treating those as one checklist.
The Federal Baseline: RCRA, TCLP and Universal Waste
The federal government has no solar-specific decommissioning law. What it has is the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, shortened to RCRA, which governs solid and hazardous waste in the United States. Every state’s solar farm decommissioning rules sit on top of it.
Who counts as the generator
Under RCRA, the party that removes panels from service and decides to discard them is the waste generator. That is the asset owner or the EPC running the removal, not the recycler and not the hauler. The generator must determine whether the waste is hazardous, store it correctly, ship it under the right paperwork and keep the records. This is called cradle-to-grave responsibility, and it does not transfer when the truck leaves the site.
RCRA hazardous waste classification, in plain language
Hazardous waste classification is the process of deciding whether a discarded material meets the legal definition of hazardous waste, and it is the first question in any solar farm decommissioning. For panels it comes down to one test: does the module leach toxic metals above a regulatory limit under landfill conditions?
The test is the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure, or TCLP. A lab crushes a representative sample of the module, soaks it in an acidic liquid that mimics a landfill, and measures the metals that come out. Lead at or above 5.0 milligrams per liter earns hazardous waste code D008. Cadmium at or above 1.0 milligrams per liter earns code D006. Those are the two metals that matter: lead from solder in most crystalline silicon panels, cadmium in cadmium telluride thin-film panels.
A panel that passes is a non-hazardous solid waste under RCRA Subtitle D, so state and local landfill rules apply. A panel that fails is a hazardous waste under RCRA Subtitle C, which brings in manifests, permitted transporters, permitted destination facilities and storage time limits. You do not always need the lab. RCRA lets a generator use knowledge of the waste (manufacturer data sheets, prior results on the same product line) instead, though knowledge gets harder to defend the older and more mixed the fleet is.
The universal waste rule and which states have added solar panels
The universal waste rule is a set of simplified federal hazardous waste standards for common, widely generated hazardous wastes. Handlers may accumulate the waste for up to one year and ship it without a hazardous waste manifest to another handler or a destination facility, provided it is labeled, tracked and sent to a legitimate recycler or disposal facility. The federal list covers batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment, lamps and aerosol cans. It does not include solar panels.
The Environmental Protection Agency has a proposed rule on its regulatory agenda titled Improving Recycling and Management of Renewable Energy Wastes: Universal Waste Regulations for Solar Panels and Lithium Batteries. As of September 2026 it has not been published as a final rule, so at the federal level a hazardous solar panel is still a fully regulated hazardous waste. States can run ahead under their own programs: California and Hawaii have added solar panels to their universal waste lists, New York is considering it, and the other states in the table below have not. Universal waste status changes how you move and store panels under solar decommissioning regulations. It does not change whether they are hazardous, so a California generator still has to know a module would fail TCLP before choosing that pathway.
Financial assurance and decommissioning bonds
Financial assurance is money or a financial promise set aside so a project can be removed and the land restored even if the owner walks away, goes bankrupt or sells. The common forms are a surety bond, an irrevocable letter of credit, a cash escrow or trust, or a parent company guaranty. A decommissioning bond is a surety bond written for this purpose.
There is no federal financial assurance requirement in solar farm decommissioning regulations. It is a state and local requirement, usually written into the site permit, the county conditional use permit or the landowner lease. What differs by state is who holds it (county, landowner or state agency), when it must be posted (at construction, by year 10, by year 15), how the amount is set (a licensed engineer’s estimate, often net of salvage value) and how often the estimate is refreshed (five years is the most common interval).
DOT and manifest transport requirements
Two paperwork systems govern the trucks. The first is the hazardous waste manifest, a multi-copy federal form that travels with every shipment of hazardous waste from generator to destination facility and is signed at each handoff. Non-hazardous panels do not need one, and neither do universal waste panels in states that have adopted the rule.
The second is the Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations, administered by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. A hazardous waste that requires a manifest is a hazardous material for transport purposes, which brings in shipping papers, packaging, marking and placarding rules and hazmat employee training. PHMSA has said in written interpretations that workers who prepare a hazardous waste package for shipment (selecting packaging, securing closures) are performing offeror functions and must be trained, and that when a generator and a hauler split those functions, both are regulated as offerors. Worker safety during solar farm decommissioning falls under OSHA: panels generate current whenever light hits them, so the electrical safety and lockout/tagout standards apply to the disconnection sequence, and fall protection applies to rooftop work.
Decommissioning Plans and Permitting Steps
A decommissioning plan is a written document, usually required at permitting and updated during operation, that describes how a solar facility will be removed, how the waste will be managed, how the land will be restored, what it will cost and how that cost is secured. Regulators treat it as a contract with the future. Lenders treat it as a liability schedule. It is the backbone of decommissioning compliance in every state that regulates the subject.
Our own decommissioning plan guidance for EPC contractors and asset owners says the plan should include, at minimum, the list of potentially hazardous materials on site, the list of valuable or salvageable components, a timeline and a budget, tailored to the array size, panel type, mounting location and the environmental impact of the removal itself. That matches what most state and county reviewers look for, so it is a reasonable skeleton in any state.
Here is the sequence that satisfies decommissioning compliance in almost every jurisdiction, in the order the obligations arrive.
- Pull the original approvals. The site permit, county conditional use permit, interconnection agreement and landowner lease. One or more usually already contains a decommissioning obligation, a trigger (commonly 12 months of non-operation) and a financial assurance clause. You are executing a promise, not designing one.
- Confirm the current state rule. Several states changed their requirements after 2023. Registration deadlines and update cycles are where projects fall out of compliance without noticing.
- Update the cost estimate. Most states want it from an independent licensed engineer on a five-year cycle, covering removal, recycling or disposal, transport and restoration, with salvage value shown as an offset where allowed. Our guide on how to calculate decommissioning costs walks through the line items.
- Make the hazardous waste determination. Decide, module family by module family, whether the panels are hazardous under RCRA, and document the basis. This sets the transport and disposal pathway for each lot.
- Notify and file. Many jurisdictions require written notice of intent, an updated plan, or both, before physical work begins, and a bond release process at the end.
- Sequence the removal. Disconnect AC before DC, isolate strings, verify zero voltage, then remove modules, racking, inverters, cabling, foundations to the required depth, and roads if the landowner elects.
- Restore and close out. Decompact soil, backfill with native soil, revegetate, and assemble the completion documentation covered below.
State-by-State Solar Farm Decommissioning Regulations
The table names the governing solar decommissioning regulation for each state in plain text. Every entry was checked against the official state agency or legislature page in September 2026. Requirements apply to utility-scale and commercial projects; local ordinances can add more.
| State | Governing rule (named) | Who it applies to | What it requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | SB 489 (2015) and DTSC universal waste regulations for PV modules, effective January 1, 2021 | Any generator of hazardous PV modules | Hazardous panels may be handled as universal waste (simplified storage, labeling and transport); the hazardous determination is still required |
| Texas | Utilities Code Chapter 302, added by SB 760 (2021), amended by HB 3228 and HB 3809 (2025) | Solar facility agreements between landowners and non-utility grantees | Remove facilities and foundations to three feet below grade; financial assurance (bond, letter of credit or parent guaranty) by the 10th anniversary of commercial operation; independent engineer estimate every five years; reuse or recycle recyclable components for agreements on or after September 1, 2025 |
| North Carolina | S.L. 2023-58, G.S. 130A-309.240 to 309.243; rules at 15A NCAC 01V, effective April 1, 2025 | Utility-scale solar projects of 2 MW AC or larger | Registration and fees with DEQ by November 1, 2025 (or 90 days before construction); decommissioning plan and financial assurance for new and rebuilt or expanded projects |
| Washington | RCW 70A.510 photovoltaic module stewardship (ESSB 5939 of 2017, amended 2020, 2021 and 2025) | Manufacturers selling modules into the state | Manufacturer takeback and recycling plans due by January 31, 2030; no sales without an approved plan from January 31, 2031 |
| Hawaii | Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 11-273.1, universal waste | Any generator of hazardous solar panels | Solar panels listed as universal waste with handler standards; still no in-state recycling facility |
| New York | 6 NYCRR Part 374-3 universal waste rulemaking (under consideration) | Generators of hazardous PV modules | Draft handler standards published (one-year accumulation, labeling, heat protection, training); until adopted, full hazardous waste rules apply to failing panels |
| New Jersey | Solar Panel Recycling Commission (P.L. 2019, c. 215), report issued November 2023 | Statewide policy stage | Commission recommended universal waste management for PV modules and in-state recycling capacity; no solar-specific waste rule adopted |
| Minnesota | Public Utilities Commission site permit conditions and PUC decommissioning plan guidance (draft, April 2025); 2023 legislative study | PUC-permitted solar generating facilities | Plan filed with the permit application, updated before construction and every five years; funding of financial assurance recommended to start by year 10 |
| Illinois | Renewable Energy Facilities Agricultural Impact Mitigation Act, 505 ILCS 147/15 | Commercial solar facility owners on landowner property | Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreement with the Department of Agriculture covering deconstruction plans and financial assurance provided to the county |
| Virginia | Code of Virginia section 15.2-2241.2 (2019, amended 2026) | Localities approving solar facilities | Written decommissioning agreement; financial assurance as certified funds, escrow, bond, letter of credit or parent guarantee from a licensed engineer’s estimate, which may net out salvage value; five-year estimate updates |
California
California was the first state to write solar panels into its universal waste program. Senate Bill 489 (2015) added Health and Safety Code section 25259 and let the Department of Toxic Substances Control designate hazardous end-of-life photovoltaic modules as universal waste; the regulations took effect on January 1, 2021. DTSC’s current fact sheet lists PV modules among eight universal waste categories, alongside batteries, lamps and electronic devices, and defines a universal waste PV module as any device containing one or more electrically connected photovoltaic cells designed to convert solar radiation into electrical energy.
What this buys a California generator is simpler handling: modules can be accumulated and shipped to a universal waste handler or destination facility without a hazardous waste manifest. What it does not buy is a pass on the determination; DTSC’s own notice is blunt that a universal waste PV module discarded rather than recycled falls back under the full hazardous waste rules. We process through our own facilities in Santa Ana and Desert Hot Springs, so for the California EPCs and O&M providers we work with, the transport leg is short and the paperwork stays inside one state program.
Texas
Texas regulates solar farm decommissioning through the landowner agreement rather than an environmental permit. Utilities Code Chapter 302, added by Senate Bill 760 and effective September 1, 2021, requires every solar power facility agreement to obligate the grantee to remove the facilities, clear foundations to at least three feet below grade, and recycle or dispose of the components. The grantee must deliver financial assurance (an investment-grade parent guaranty, a letter of credit, a bond, or another form acceptable to the landowner) at least equal to the removal, recycling and restoration cost minus salvage value, based on an independent Texas-licensed engineer’s estimate delivered by the 10th anniversary of commercial operation and refreshed at least every five years.
Two 2025 bills tightened this. HB 3228 amended Chapter 302 so the grantee must collect and reuse or recycle all components, including the photovoltaic modules, that can practicably be reused or recycled, with the rest disposed of at a facility authorized under state and federal law. HB 3809 created Chapter 303 for battery energy storage agreements and applies the same terms to batteries inside solar agreements. Both apply to agreements entered on or after September 1, 2025. Texas has not added solar panels to its universal waste list, so a failing TCLP result still means a manifested hazardous waste shipment.
North Carolina
North Carolina moved from a stakeholder study to the newest live solar farm decommissioning program in the country. House Bill 329 (Session Law 2019-132) directed the Department of Environmental Quality to study end-of-life management of utility-scale solar; Session Law 2023-58 enacted G.S. 130A-309.240 through 309.243, and DEQ’s rules at 15A NCAC 01V took effect on April 1, 2025. The program covers utility-scale solar projects of 2 megawatts alternating current or larger. Owners had to register with DEQ and pay fees by November 1, 2025, or at least 90 days before construction for later projects, and new or rebuilt projects must submit a decommissioning plan and establish financial assurance on the same timeline. Hazardous modules still follow the standard RCRA pathway.
Washington
Washington’s solar decommissioning rules took the manufacturer-responsibility route. RCW 70A.510, created by ESSB 5939 in 2017, requires each manufacturer selling photovoltaic modules into the state to finance a takeback and recycling program. The start date has slipped repeatedly: after amendments in 2020, 2021 and 2025, manufacturers must submit a stewardship plan by January 31, 2030, and from January 31, 2031 no one may sell a module in the state without an approved plan. For an owner decommissioning a solar farm today, that program is not yet a disposal route. The Department of Ecology still requires a dangerous waste designation for removed panels, by testing or knowledge, and solar panels are not on Washington’s universal waste list.
Hawaii
Hawaii lists solar panels as a universal waste in Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 11-273.1, compiled most recently in July 2025. The legal pathway is simpler than in most states. The physical pathway is not. When our team exhibited at RE+ 2025 in Las Vegas, Hawaii was a major discussion point: thousands of end-of-life panels from one of the earliest solar markets, no in-state recycling facility, and mainland shipping costs that make disposal decisions painful.
New York
The Department of Environmental Conservation is considering adding solar panels to the universal waste regulations in 6 NYCRR Part 374-3. Its published outline describes the handler standards it has in mind: accumulation for no longer than one year, containers marked as Universal Waste PV modules, protection from heat, inspections and employee training. Until the rule is adopted, a New York panel that fails TCLP is a fully regulated hazardous waste, and a New York solar farm decommissioning plan should budget for manifested transport.
New Jersey
New Jersey created a Solar Panel Recycling Commission by statute in 2019 (P.L. 2019, c. 215). Its November 2023 report recommended managing photovoltaic modules as universal waste at existing facilities, funded by an advance recovery fee or an extended producer responsibility model, and building in-state recycling centers. The Department of Environmental Protection expects end-of-life module volumes in the state to grow roughly thirtyfold between 2025 and 2040. As of our check no solar-specific universal waste rule has been adopted, so decommissioning compliance in New Jersey runs on the standard RCRA determination plus municipal land use approvals.
Minnesota
Minnesota’s large solar projects are permitted by the Public Utilities Commission, and the decommissioning plan is a permit condition. The PUC’s guidance, issued in draft form in April 2025, asks for a plan with the site permit application, an update before construction, and updates every five years from commercial operation, each with a cost estimate from a knowledgeable independent party showing gross and net cost after salvage, and it recommends that owners begin funding financial assurance no later than year 10. The 2023 Legislature also mandated a study of a statewide end-of-life system for solar; the Pollution Control Agency delivered it in January 2025, and no universal waste designation has followed yet.
Illinois
Illinois runs its solar decommissioning rules through agriculture rather than environment. Under the Renewable Energy Facilities Agricultural Impact Mitigation Act, 505 ILCS 147/15, the owner of a commercial solar energy facility on landowner property must enter an Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreement with the Department of Agriculture. The agreement must address deconstruction, including deconstruction upon abandonment, and the owner must provide the county with a financial assurance mechanism consistent with the Department’s standard agreement. Drainage tile, topsoil handling, decompaction and road removal sit in the same document, the closest thing Illinois has to a statewide decommissioning plan template.
Virginia
Virginia pushes the obligation to localities. Code of Virginia section 15.2-2241.2, enacted in 2019, requires localities to make the owner or lessee of solar equipment sign a written decommissioning agreement that lets the locality step in on default, backed by financial assurance as certified funds, cash escrow, bond, letter of credit or parent guarantee, sized from a Virginia-licensed engineer’s estimate that may net out salvage value and must include an inflation factor. Amendments in 2026 (chapters 1005 and 1068) added five-year estimate updates and notice requirements on ownership transfers, so a Virginia project sold this year carries new filing duties.
Documentation Regulators and Lenders Expect
Decommissioning compliance is proven on paper. When a state inspector, county planner, landowner’s attorney or lender’s environmental consultant asks for the solar farm decommissioning file, this is what they expect to find.
- The approved decommissioning plan and every update. With the engineer’s cost estimates, refresh dates and salvage assumptions.
- Financial assurance instruments. The bond, letter of credit, escrow statement or guaranty, plus proof the amount tracks the current estimate.
- Hazardous waste determinations. TCLP lab reports or the written generator-knowledge basis, organized by module make and model, because that is where the variance shows up.
- Manifests and shipping papers. Signed hazardous waste manifests, or universal waste shipment records where allowed, matched to the panel counts leaving the site.
- Hazmat and safety training records. PHMSA hazmat employee training for anyone who packaged or offered a hazardous shipment, and lockout/tagout and electrical safety records for the crew.
- Recycler and destination facility documentation. Certificates of recycling or completion, weight tickets and a materials recovery report showing what was resold, what was recycled and where each material stream went.
- Site restoration evidence. Final survey, photographs, decompaction and revegetation records, and the locality’s or landowner’s written release of the obligation and the bond.
The recovery documents are also where the economics of solar farm decommissioning move. The Solar Recycling Company tells utility-scale asset owners and developers the same thing on every mixed-condition site: functional panels, inverters and batteries with resale value can offset the cost of a decommissioning project, sometimes a meaningful share of it, so we test and sort the equipment, resell what holds value, recycle the rest, and put the split in writing before work starts. Our published resale ranges are the honest starting point: a used panel is worth roughly $0.05 to $0.60 per watt depending on age and output, and recycling a non-working panel runs about $20 to $50 per panel plus shipping. At close, the owner receives a report of materials recovered and a Certificate of Completion confirming the equipment was handled in line with the applicable rules, the document that supports ESG reporting and the bond release.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are solar panels hazardous waste under federal law?
Sometimes. A panel is hazardous under RCRA only if it fails the TCLP test for lead (5.0 milligrams per liter) or cadmium (1.0 milligrams per liter). Many crystalline silicon panels pass. Some do not, and results vary within one manufacturer’s model. The generator makes the determination and keeps the basis for it.
Do I need a permit to decommission a solar farm?
Often yes, though usually not a new one. Most utility-scale and commercial projects carry a decommissioning obligation written into the original permit, lease or interconnection agreement, and local jurisdictions may require a decommissioning plan, notification or a bond release before the site is cleared. Confirm the conditions in your existing approvals before scheduling removal.
What is a decommissioning bond and when must it be posted?
A decommissioning bond is a surety bond that guarantees funds to remove a solar facility and restore the land if the owner does not. Timing varies across solar farm decommissioning regulations: Texas requires financial assurance by the 10th anniversary of commercial operation, North Carolina at registration for new and expanded projects, Minnesota’s guidance by year 10, and Virginia and Illinois leave timing to the local or agricultural agreement. Many counties require it at construction.
Which states treat solar panels as universal waste?
California (effective January 1, 2021) and Hawaii (Hawaii Administrative Rules 11-273.1). New York has a rulemaking under consideration. The federal universal waste list does not yet include solar panels, though EPA has a proposed rule on its agenda.
Does a recycler take on my RCRA liability?
No. Under solar decommissioning regulations, cradle-to-grave responsibility stays with the generator. A qualified recycler lowers your risk by handling the panels correctly and returning the documentation to prove it, but the determination, the manifests and the records remain your obligation. That is why the paperwork a vendor hands back matters as much as the price.
Key Takeaways
- The federal floor is RCRA, not a solar law. The generator determines whether panels are hazardous and keeps that responsibility through final disposition.
- TCLP results vary inside one model line. Classify by module family and document the basis.
- Universal waste is state by state. California and Hawaii have it for solar panels; New York is considering it; the federal rule is still proposed.
- Financial assurance is state and local. Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois and Minnesota each set their own trigger, holder and refresh cycle, and five-year engineer updates are the norm.
- Transport is its own compliance track. Hazardous shipments carry manifests, DOT hazmat rules and trained offerors.
- Recovery value belongs in the plan. Resale of working equipment offsets removal cost, and the recovery report plus Certificate of Completion closes the file.
Conclusion
Solar farm decommissioning regulations in the United States reward the owner who reads the original permit first, classifies the panels honestly and matches the state’s paperwork before the first module comes off the rack. The direction of travel is clear: North Carolina’s program went live in 2025, Texas added recycling duties the same year, Virginia tightened its estimate cycle in 2026, and EPA’s universal waste proposal is on the agenda. A plan written to the strictest state you operate in will age better than one written to the loosest.
If you are an EPC contractor, commercial solar installer, O&M provider, utility-scale asset owner or developer working through solar farm decommissioning regulations on a live project, The Solar Recycling Company handles commercial and utility-scale solar panel decommissioning, recycling and asset recovery nationwide, buys and sells used panels, inverters and batteries, and returns the recovery report and Certificate of Completion your regulator and lender will ask for. Send us the location, panel count and condition and we reply with a quote within 24 hours.
