JEFFERSON CITY — A House bill would add various regulations to solar farms and aim to increase local power over where new solar farms can operate.
Restrictions include setback distances for solar projects, noise limitations and a local permitting system. The bill also adds a tax on the energy collected by farms, reclassifies the land and limits the amount of solar land relative to its county’s farmland.
“There’s concerns between the rights of farmers, the right to be able to rent out their land … versus the rights and safety of the neighbors,” Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, said at a hearing on the bill Monday.
Byrnes is chair of the Special Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, but presented the bill on behalf of its sponsor, Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly.
The bill's restrictions could discourage solar farm operators from buying land in Missouri, as operational costs and physical limits would increase. Farmers or other landowners would then find it harder to sell their property to solar companies.
The House and similar Senate bills would establish a local permitting system, requiring solar companies to get a permit from the county commission before construction. A public meeting about the proposed farm must be held before the permit is issued, under the bill.
A new tax of $6,000 per megawatt of energy capacity would be levied, which stacks with existing taxes. Other states that implement energy capacity taxes, like Ohio, do not also tax the real property owned by solar facilities.
"We will have the highest (tax), and a de facto solar ban because of that taxation," said John Dolan, executive director of the Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association. Dolan has served as a Republican state representative and senator in Missouri.
The bill would additionally establish 1,000-foot setbacks from property boundaries and would limit the noise levels to 45 decibels from any property line. No setbacks are currently in place.
One family in Callaway owns a 16-acre property that has been surrounded by solar panels.
"The solar companies put their access drive about five feet from my parents' driveway," said Laura Stinson, whose parents own the island of property. Tall chain-link fencing surrounds this land.
During construction, constant trips on the roads would kick up dust near the Stinson property. Stinson said that given the proximity, her sister, who has Down Syndrome, was greatly irritated by the loud noise of construction.
The bill's opponents, however, say that 1,000-foot setbacks are excessive, and that a limit of 45 decibels is unrealistic. A level of 45 decibels is about the sound of a refrigerator hum, according to Yale Environmental Health & Safety.
Many bill proponents said that they aren't against solar energy per se but want local say before solar farms are constructed.
Legislation like this has been tried for the past five years but has usually died in committee. At this point in the legislative calendar, it would be challenging to get the bill from committee to the governor.
This year, a Senate bill with the same regulations is out of its committee and ready for debate among senators.
In the future, Byrnes said she is looking to compromise between solar farm developers and their neighbors through a committee substitute, or a reworking of the bill.