Who pays to remove a battery project from Texas land?

Check the agreement date and arrangement

HB 3809’s transition provision applies the changes to agreements entered into on or after September 1, 2025. Earlier agreements remain governed by the prior law. Keep the signed agreement and any amendments together for review.

Chapter 303 defines a covered lease arrangement, including a one-megawatt-hour threshold and an electric-utility exclusion. It also addresses batteries within certain wind or solar agreements differently. Ask your adviser which provisions apply; a sale, option or older lease should not be treated as identical.

Tell the adviser whether you already signed something or are still considering a draft. If the company says the law takes care of removal, ask it to identify the provisions in your actual document and explain how they would work for your property.

Reference: Texas HB 3809: enacted text and agreement-date provision · Texas Utilities Code: Chapter 303, battery facility agreements

Describe what you want back

The chapter addresses equipment, specified foundations and cables, disposal, and owner-requested road removal and restoration. Ask for a removal exhibit that identifies the work on your land.

Use the proposed layout to discuss every part of the site. What happens to the battery equipment, concrete, buried lines, switchyard, fencing, roads and drainage? Identify which items belong to the project company and which belong to another party.

Explain your intended future use. If you want to farm again, discuss soil, compaction and access. If you want to keep a road, say which one and why. Have those choices reflected clearly rather than relying on a broad word such as “restored.”

Keep a record of the starting condition. Ask how photographs, maps and descriptions will be agreed on and retained. That record can help everyone understand what the promised work is supposed to accomplish.

Reference: Texas Utilities Code: Chapter 303, battery facility agreements

Ask when the financial security arrives

Chapter 303 sets estimate and financial-assurance deadlines, including the tenth anniversary for the initial estimates, later five-year updates, and assurance by termination or the fifteenth anniversary, whichever comes first. Ask for exact dates in the proposed deal and discuss earlier delivery with your adviser.

Request the proposed security instrument, not just a sentence saying there will be a bond. Who provides it, who can draw on it and what conditions must be met? Have your adviser explain its practical effect.

Ask what protection would exist before that instrument is delivered. What happens if the company stops work, leaves equipment or cannot perform during those years? Write down the company’s answer and ask how it would be documented.

The cost estimate and the security amount answer different questions. Ask for the calculation, including treatment of salvage value and debt, and the current supporting documents. A headline dollar amount does not tell you how much would be available when removal is needed.

Reference: Texas Utilities Code: Chapter 303, battery facility agreements

Plan for notices and a change of owner

The statute includes a 180-day deadline for certain owner requests, tied to specified notices, and addresses continuation or replacement of assurance on cancellation or transfer. Have your adviser explain the triggers and put the relevant dates on your calendar.

Ask where notices would be sent and how you would update that address. If you sell the land or the project changes hands, who receives the records? Make sure the company’s contact and the responsible legal entity remain identifiable.

Discuss a project transfer while reviewing the first draft. Would you receive notice, updated contacts and evidence of security? How would you verify that the new company took on the obligations owed to you?

Keep removal separate from routine repairs and incident cleanup. Ask who handles damage during construction or operation, what insurance is proposed and which obligations survive termination. Do not assume a decommissioning provision answers every kind of cleanup question.

Reference: Texas Utilities Code: Chapter 303, battery facility agreements

Bring these questions to the property conversation

To contact Sunland, start with your name, email, phone and property location. Texas is selected on this page and can be corrected. County is required; acreage and parcel number are optional.

If you have an offer, mention whether it is an option, lease or sale and what stage the discussion has reached. You can begin without uploading a contract or calculating removal costs yourself.

Before signing, ask your own adviser to review the documents and the rules that apply to that arrangement. This guide helps organize a property conversation; it does not establish that a particular agreement satisfies the law.