Facilities committee approves amended Nexamp solar lease with decommissioning bond and one-year construction cushion

The Warren County Facilities Committee on April 22 approved an amendment to the county's 2021 lease with Nexamp for solar arrays at the county airport, tightening the lease area, increasing insurance and reporting requirements, adding explicit decommissioning obligations and extending the construction deadline to August 2026.

Committee members approved the amendment after the county attorney summarized a set of redline changes negotiated over about two months. The attorney said the changes fall into six categories, including narrowing the defined lease area to the specific tax map parcels that house the solar arrays, expanding insurance coverage to include the construction phase and requiring Nexamp to report claims to the county during the lease term.

The attorney said the county incorporated decommissioning language modeled on requirements used by the Town of Queensbury and that Nexamp requested a one-year extension of the construction window. "It's my general sense that they're not going to need that full year, but they wanted it as a cushion should something arise after August 2025 that they need to address," the county attorney said.

During discussion Supervisor Thomas asked how panels would be handled at end of life. The Committee Chair responded that the lease requires a decommissioning bond of about $700,000 to ensure the site is returned to its prior condition, saying the county could either have Nexamp perform the decommissioning or use the bond to do the work.

Committee members voted in favor of the amendment; the transcript records multiple "aye" votes during the roll call. A public hearing on the amended lease is scheduled at the next Board of Supervisors meeting.

The amendment does not change the county's public notice requirement; the county attorney told the committee the matter will come back to the full Board for the public hearing and any final action.

Background: the county entered the original lease in 2021. The amendment narrows the geographic scope of the leased land, adds construction-phase insurance and claims-reporting obligations, adopts decommissioning language based on the Town of Queensbury's standards, and grants Nexamp a one-year construction cushion to Aug. 2026.