wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2388 > Substitute Bill

HB 2388 - Distributed energy/ag. lands

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Section 1

  1. The following categories of clean energy facilities and nonproject activities that reduce environmental impacts are determined to constitute distributed energy priorities:

    1. Solar energy generation and accompanying energy storage and electricity transmission and distribution, including vehicle charging equipment, when such facilities are located:

      1. Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of electrical transmission facilities or electric utility infrastructure sites;

      2. Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of a state highway or city or county road;

      3. On structures over or enclosing irrigation canals, drainage ditches, and irrigation, agricultural, livestock supply, stormwater, or wastewater reservoirs or similar impoundments of state waters that do not host salmon or steelhead trout runs;

      4. On elevated structures over parking lots;

    2. On lands within a transportation facility, including but not limited to airports and railroad facilities, or restricted from other developments by transportation facility operations;

    1. On closed or capped portions of landfills;

    2. On reclaimed or former surface mine lands or contaminated sites that have been remediated under chapter 70A.305 RCW or the federal comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.) in a manner that includes an asphalt or soil cap;

    3. As an agrivoltaic facility;

     ix. As a pivot corner facility; and

    1. On existing structures;

    2. Wind energy generation that is not a utility-scale wind energy facility as defined in RCW 70A.550.010, and accompanying energy storage and transmission and distribution equipment, including vehicle charging equipment;

    3. Energy storage, when such facilities are located:

      1. Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of electrical transmission facilities or electric utility infrastructure sites;

      2. Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of a state highway or city or county road;

      3. On lands within a transportation facility, including but not limited to airports and railroad facilities, or restricted from other developments by transportation facility operations;

      4. On closed or capped portions of landfills;

    4. On reclaimed or former surface mine lands;

    1. On contaminated sites that have been remediated under chapter 70A.305 RCW or the federal comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.) in a manner that includes an asphalt or soil cap; and

    2. On or in existing structures;

    3. Microgrids. For purposes of this section, "microgrids" are a group of interconnected loads, energy generation, and other distributed energy resources that act as a single controllable entity with respect to the electric grid. A microgrid can operate both autonomously from and synchronous with the central electric grid;

    1. Programs that reduce electric demand, manage the level or timing of electricity consumption, or provide electricity storage, renewable or nonemitting electric energy, capacity, or ancillary services to an electric utility and that are located on the distribution system, any subsystem of the distribution system, or behind the customer meter, including conservation and energy efficiency; and

    2. Programs that reduce energy demand, manage the level or timing of energy consumption, or provide thermal energy storage.

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    1. The department must review and, when appropriate, periodically recommend to the legislature additional types of distributed energy priorities for inclusion on the list under subsection (1) of this section.

    2. The identification of distributed energy priorities in subsection (1) of this section applies to the maximum extent practical under state and federal law, but does not include any development sites or activities prohibited under other state or federal laws.

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    1. For purposes of this section, "agrivoltaic facility" means a ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy system that is designed to be operated coincident with continued productive agricultural use of the land.

    2. Eligible agricultural products and uses include any combination of:

      1. Crop production;

      2. Grazing;

      3. Animal husbandry; and

      4. Apiaries with pollinator habitat that have been designed and installed to enable the agricultural producer the flexibility to change what products are produced, raised, or grown at any point throughout the life of the facility.

    3. An agrivoltaic facility must not permanently or significantly degrade the agricultural or ecological productivity of the land after the cessation of the operation of the facility or involve the sale of a water right associated with the land.

    4. An agrivoltaic facility must be constructed, installed, and operated to achieve integrated and simultaneous production of both solar energy and marketable agricultural products by an agricultural producer:

      1. On land beneath or between rows of solar panels, or both; and

      2. As soon as agronomically feasible and optimal for the agricultural producer after the commercial solar operation date, and continuing until facility decommissioning.

    5. Solar panel arrays must be designed and installed in a manner that supports the continuation of a viable farm operation for the life of the array, and must consider, as appropriate, the availability of light, water infrastructure for crops or animals, and panel height and spacing relative to farm machinery needs.

  4. For purposes of this section, "pivot corner facility" means a ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy system on noncultivated land immediately adjacent to and outside of a center-pivot irrigated cropland area but within the same agricultural field. A pivot corner facility is designed to be operated coincident with continued productive agricultural use of irrigated agricultural land adjacent to the pivot corner facility. A pivot corner facility must not involve the sale of a water right associated with the land.

Section 2

  1. A county or a city may use a variety of innovative zoning techniques in areas designated as agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance under RCW 36.70A.170. The innovative zoning techniques should be designed to conserve agricultural lands and encourage the agricultural economy. Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, a county or city should encourage nonagricultural uses to be limited to lands with poor soils or otherwise not suitable for agricultural purposes.

  2. Innovative zoning techniques a county or city may consider include, but are not limited to:

    1. Agricultural zoning, which limits the density of development and restricts or prohibits nonfarm uses of agricultural land and may allow accessory uses, including nonagricultural accessory uses and activities, that support, promote, or sustain agricultural operations and production, as provided in subsection (3) of this section;

    2. Cluster zoning, which allows new development on one portion of the land, leaving the remainder in agricultural or open space uses;

    3. Large lot zoning, which establishes as a minimum lot size the amount of land necessary to achieve a successful farming practice;

    4. Quarter/quarter zoning, which permits one residential dwelling on a one-acre minimum lot for each one-sixteenth of a section of land; and

    5. Sliding scale zoning, which allows the number of lots for single-family residential purposes with a minimum lot size of one acre to increase inversely as the size of the total acreage increases.

  3. Accessory uses allowed under subsection (2)(a) of this section shall comply with the following:

    1. Accessory uses shall be located, designed, and operated so as to not interfere with, and to support the continuation of, the overall agricultural use of the property and neighboring properties, and shall comply with the requirements of this chapter;

    2. Accessory uses may include:

      1. Agricultural accessory uses and activities, including but not limited to the storage, distribution, and marketing of regional agricultural products from one or more producers, agriculturally related experiences, or the production, marketing, and distribution of value-added agricultural products, including support services that facilitate these activities;

      2. Nonagricultural accessory uses and activities as long as they are consistent with the size, scale, and intensity of the existing agricultural use of the property and the existing buildings on the site. Nonagricultural accessory uses and activities, including new buildings, parking, or supportive uses, shall not be located outside the general area already developed for buildings and residential uses and shall not otherwise convert more than one acre of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses; and

      3. Solar pivot corner facilities as described in RCW 43.21F.100 in agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance under RCW 36.70A.170; and

    3. Counties and cities have the authority to limit or exclude accessory uses otherwise authorized in this subsection (3) in areas designated as agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance.

  4. This section shall not be interpreted to limit agricultural production on designated agricultural lands.

Section 3

If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

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