This bill establishes a two-year pause on issuing permits for new datacenters in North Carolina, which are defined as facilities with a power capacity of 100 megawatts or more. During this moratorium, a university research group will study the potential impacts of these facilities on the state's electricity grid, water supplies, air quality, and local property values. The legislation also requires datacenters to annually submit detailed financial and operational reports to the state to receive tax exemptions on their equipment purchases. Additionally, the Department of Commerce must report the total revenue lost to the state due to these tax breaks to the General Assembly.
This North Carolina bill establishes a new regulatory framework specifically for large nonresidential electricity customers who consume 50 megawatts or more. It requires electric utilities to file tariffs that include strict contract terms, such as a minimum 20-year service agreement, mandatory load usage guarantees, and significant upfront payments to cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades needed to serve these clients. The legislation also mandates that these customers pay exit fees if they terminate service early or fail to meet their contracted energy demands, ensuring that other ratepayers are not financially burdened by their departure. Additionally, the bill creates a program allowing these large customers to purchase dedicated clean energy resources while ensuring that residential and small commercial customers are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by these arrangements.
HB 638 requires new data centers and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to pay fees covering the cost of additional reliable power needed to support their electricity demand. Specifically, it mandates fees on new EV/PHEV charging stations and EVs sold in North Carolina, with funds dedicated solely to building new dispatchable power sources (like natural gas or coal plants) instead of raising all customers' bills. Data centers must either contract directly with utilities for new power or face recoupment of state incentives if they fail to secure it. The law aims to prevent grid strain by ensuring those driving new demand - data centers and EV users - bear the cost of infrastructure upgrades.
HB 729, titled the "Farmland Protection Act," makes several changes related to solar energy development. It reduces the property tax exclusion for solar energy electric systems from 80% to 40% of their appraised value, which will increase the taxable value of these systems. The bill also prohibits the construction of new utility-scale solar projects that are not qualifying facilities under federal law, unless they are sited on specific types of land such as brownfields, non-agricultural land, or clear-cut timberland. Additionally, it updates the effective dates for requirements regarding financial assurance and decommissioning plans for utility-scale solar projects, affecting both existing and new facilities.
The Farmers Protection Act (SB 554) aims to prevent discrimination in financing against agriculture producers. It makes it unlawful for banks to deny or cancel services to farmers based on their greenhouse gas emissions, use of fossil-fuel derived fertilizer, or fossil-fuel powered machinery. If a bank has an environmental, social, or governance (ESG) commitment related to agriculture, there is a rebuttable presumption that such a denial violates the act, unless the bank proves it was solely for financial reasons. The bill requires banks to submit annual compliance reports and allows for civil penalties for violations, which are also considered an unfair or deceptive trade practice.
