2019 Montana Code Annotated
Title 75. Environmental Protection
Chapter 26. Wind Generation
Part 3. Decommissioning
75-26-301. Definitions

75-26-301. Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Board" means the board of environmental review provided for in 2-15-3502.

(2) "Decommission" or "decommissioning" means:

(a) except as provided in 75-26-304(2), the removal of buildings, cabling, electrical components, roads, or any other facilities associated with a wind generation or solar facility;

(b) except as provided in 75-26-304(2), reclamation of surface lands to the previous grade and to comparable productivity in order to prevent adverse hydrologic effects; and

(c) (i) the removal of the solar facility after the end of the facility's useful life or abandonment; or

(ii) the removal of an aboveground wind turbine tower after the end of a wind generation facility's useful life or abandonment.

(3) "Department" means the department of environmental quality provided for in 2-15-3501.

(4) "Owner" means a person who owns a wind generation or solar facility used for the generation of electricity.

(5) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, company, association, corporation, city, town, or local governmental entity or any other state, federal, or private entity, whether organized for profit or not.

(6) "Repurposed" means having made a significant investment in an existing wind generation or solar facility to extend the useful life of the facility by more than 5 years.

(7) "Solar facility" means an installation or combination of solar panels or plates, including a canopy or array, that captures and converts solar radiation to produce electricity and includes flat plate, focusing solar collectors, or photovoltaic solar cells that:

(a) has a nameplate capacity greater than or equal to 2 megawatts; and

(b) produces electricity that is not consumed on the premises of the solar facility or on land immediately adjacent to the premises of the solar facility.

(8) "Wind generation facility" means any combination of a physically connected wind turbine or turbines, associated prime movers, and other associated property, including appurtenant land and improvements and personal property, that are normally operated together to produce electric power from wind and that have a nameplate capacity greater than or equal to 25 megawatts.

History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 247, L. 2017; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 304, L. 2019.