Pratt County allows delivery of solar equipment but bars construction until $7.28 million decommissioning bond is filed

Pratt County commissioners voted 3-0 to allow developer deliveries to a project laydown yard for the Nanisca (also referenced as Nunezka) Flats solar project, but they prohibited any construction until a decommissioning bond for $7,280,000 is in place.

Natalie Schott, who identified herself as the developer for the Nunezka Flats solar project and said she works for Nextiva Energy, told the commission that the project currently has a parent‑company decommissioning guarantee in place and that the signed third‑party bond is delayed by administrative timing. "The decommissioning bond amount is $7,280,000," Schott said, and she offered to provide a written guarantee that the bond will be delivered "in a few days."

Commissioners and county staff explained the difference between the guarantee and the bond: the county’s regulations require a bond because it brings in an independent third party that the county could make claims to if decommissioning were ever required. County staff confirmed roads and early deliveries would be covered under the existing $500,000 road‑use guarantee, but the decommissioning bond is a separate requirement tied to permitting and to protecting landowners if the project were abandoned.

Schott asked the county to accept the parent‑company guarantee as a temporary placeholder while the signed bond is finalized. County staff said they would accept deliveries to a designated laydown yard but reiterated multiple times that "no construction starts until we get that bond." The board then moved, seconded and approved a motion allowing deliveries and stockpiling at the laydown yard while explicitly barring any construction until the decommissioning bond is filed; the vote was 3-0.

County staff and the developer discussed logistics for pre‑ and post‑road inspections, coordination with the county’s project point people (including staff named Doug and Luke), and the need for written minutes or other documentation showing the board’s authorization for deliveries. Schott said Nextiva/NextEra Capital Holdings — named in the meeting as the parent guarantor — is pulling corporate resources to complete the bond and would provide email or meeting minutes as interim documentation.

The action allows the developer to move equipment to a staging area immediately but preserves the county’s regulatory safeguard that construction cannot begin until the county receives the required third‑party decommissioning bond and the bond template requested by the county has been executed.