Commission approves irrigation waiver for 2 MW George Island Landing solar project; decommissioning bond will follow county code

Representatives for the proposed 2-megawatt solar facility on George Island Landing Road asked the Worcester County Planning Commission for a waiver to permit manual irrigation for newly planted landscape buffers and presented a decommissioning plan that follows county bonding requirements.

"This is a 2 megawatt solar facility on George Island Landing Road. We've received approval from Department of Environmental Programs as well as the soil conservation district," the applicant said while outlining the project and the request for one irrigation waiver. The development team said the landscape limits of disturbance and planting approach would be supported by trucked-in water (a nurse tank) and staged contractor watering during the establishment period.

Commissioners pressed the presenters on the irrigation plan’s practicality; the applicants said they had a contractor watering schedule and contingency provisions for drought. A motion to grant the manual-irrigation waiver was made, seconded and approved. Commissioners then discussed the decommissioning plan: applicants said they prepared a county-code decommissioning bond and that the state is developing a standardized decommissioning-cost template that would apply to 1–5 megawatt facilities; the applicants requested that the county accept a county bond now for grading-permit purposes and transition to the state template once released.

Staff and commissioners agreed the project will be held to Worcester County code now and that applicants will remove certain language flagged by staff per a letter from a county official; once the state template is released the applicants proposed posting a state-compliant bond with an appropriate rider to the county. The commission approved the irrigation waiver and recorded the discussions about decommissioning in the project record; final bonding and any state-required forms will be resolved through follow-up with county permitting and state regulators.