House Energy committee debates whether S.50 should subject small net‑metering solar arrays to municipal setbacks

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on April 1 discussed S.50, an amendment that would require certain small ground‑mounted solar net‑metering systems to comply with municipal setback rules. The committee heard a detailed legal briefing from legislative counsel on a conflict between the bill's floor amendment (section 3) and existing state law, and members debated whether to leave the expedited registration rules unchanged, adopt a single statewide setback, or defer to town rules.

Legislative counsel Helen Tchaikowski told the committee that current statute (30 V.S.A. § 248) includes specific minimum setbacks for ground‑mounted solar and that “this subsection does not require a setback for a facility with a plant capacity equal to or less than 15 kilowatts.” Under that statute, she read, setbacks from the edge of the traveled way are 100 feet for facilities exceeding 50 kW and 40 feet for facilities between 15 kW and 50 kW; property‑line setbacks are 50 feet for facilities greater than 150 kW and 25 feet for those between 25 kW and 150 kW.

Chair Representative Kathleen James said…