Relating to utility-scale solar energy facilities installation on agricultural land

This bill relates to utility-scale solar energy facility installation on agricultural land. The bill defines “agricultural land” to mean land that is suitable for farming. The bill defines “utility-scale solar energy facility” or “solar energy facility” to mean an assemblage of photovoltaic modules, equipment, or structural features that collect and convert incident solar radiation into other specific forms of energy or transform the solar energy to transmission on an electric grid. The bill defines “corn suitability rating” (CSR) to mean Iowa state university extension and outreach’s corn suitability rating index which determines the potential for row-crop productivity for a parcel of land. The bill provides that a utility-scale solar energy facility shall not be installed on agricultural land unless the agricultural land has a CSR of or lower, the solar energy facility is at least one-half mile from the next solar energy facility, and the solar energy facility is located at least 1,250 feet from the nearest residence. The bill provides that distances shall be measured horizontally by standard survey methods between the closest point of each location or object.