An Act to Prohibit the Disposal of Certain Solar Panels in the State and to Require Bonds to Cover Disposal Costs
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 0826
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Sponsors: LEMELIN, ADAMS
Amends: 35-A MRSA §3491, 35-A MRSA §3495, 38 MRSA §1306

Legislative Document
No. 826
H.P. 515
House of Representatives, February 21, 2023
An Act to Prohibit the Disposal of Certain Solar Panels in the State 
and to Require Bonds to Cover Disposal Costs
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources suggested and ordered 
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative LEMELIN of Chelsea.
Cosponsored by Representative: ADAMS of Lebanon.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §3491, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 151, §1, is amended 
by amending the last blocked paragraph to read:
"Decommissioning" includes the grading to postconstruction grade and revegetation of all 
earth disturbed during construction and decommissioning, except for areas already 
restored, and the recycling or disposal of the solar panels used during the operation of the 
solar energy development.
Sec. 2.  35-A MRSA §3495, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 151, §1, is amended 
to read:
2.  Financial assurance.  The person identified in the plan as responsible for 
decommissioning demonstrates financial assurance, in the form of a performance bond, 
surety bond, irrevocable letter of credit or other form of financial assurance acceptable to 
the environmental permitting entity, for the total cost of decommissioning.  The financial 
assurance demonstrated must include, in the form of a performance bond or surety bond, 
the total cost of recycling or disposing of the solar panels used during the operation of the 
solar energy development; and
Sec. 3.  38 MRSA §1306, sub-§8 is enacted to read:
8.  Prohibition on disposal of heavy metal-containing commercial solar panels.  A 
person may not place or facilitate the placement of a heavy metal-containing commercial 
solar panel in solid waste for disposal in a solid waste disposal facility in the State or for 
incineration in an incineration facility in the State or otherwise dispose of or facilitate the 
disposal of a heavy metal-containing commercial solar panel in the State by burial, 
incineration, deposit or dumping.
As used in this section, "heavy metal-containing commercial solar panel" means a solar 
panel not designed for residential use that contains more than a de minimis amount of 
arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, selenium or silver.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the laws regulating the decommissioning of solar energy 
developments to provide that such decommissioning includes the recycling or disposal of 
the solar panels used during the operation of the development and that the person 
responsible for decommissioning must demonstrate financial assurance, in the form of a 
performance bond or surety bond, for the total cost of recycling or disposing of those solar 
panels during decommissioning.  
The bill also prohibits a person from placing or facilitating the placement of a heavy 
metal-containing commercial solar panel in solid waste for disposal in a solid waste 
disposal facility in the State or for incineration in an incineration facility in the State or 
otherwise disposing of or facilitating the disposal of a heavy metal-containing commercial 
solar panel in the State by burial, incineration, deposit or dumping.  The bill defines "heavy 
metal-containing commercial solar panel" to mean a solar panel not designed for residential 
use that contains more than a de minimis amount of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, 
selenium or silver.