Harvey Solar, a 350-megawatt solar project in Licking County, is awaiting a decision from the Ohio Supreme Court after an opposition group appealed its approval.
It’s not the first time that a renewable energy project has gone in front of the state’s highest court and it won’t be the last.
The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the appeal last month.
If the court upholds Harvey Solar's state approval, the project will be built on more than 2,600 hundred acres of private farmland in Benning and Hartford townships. The project's developer reports that it could power the equivalent of 350,000 homes.
In the Supreme Court case, environmental lawyer Jack Van Kley represents the appellant, Save Hartford Township. Van Kley has been involved in other appeals of approved solar projects.
In this case, claims that Harvey Solar didn’t evaluate the “economic disadvantage” of solar and didn't conduct a proper study on possible night noise generated by the project, among other alleged omissions.
But the appeal isn’t really against Harvey Solar. It’s against a decision made by the Ohio Power Siting Board, or OPSB, a board under the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, or PUCO, with the power to approve or deny "large-scale" solar projects of 50 megawatts or more.
“In some cases, the Ohio Power Siting Board improperly switched the burden of proof from the applicant, in this case, Harvey Solar, to the interveners," Van Kley argued during the Supreme Court hearing.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office, representing the OPSB, claims there’s no requirement for solar applicants to come up with every possible negative impact of a project.
“Increasingly, almost every project has organized opposition with a hired lawyer."- Douglas Herling, Vice President of Open Road Renewables.
The Ohio Power Siting Board
The siting board's seven voting members include PUCO's chair and heads of other state offices, including the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio EPA, according to siting board spokesman Matt Butler. The board also has four non-voting members: a Democrat and Republican each from the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate.
Under a recent Senate Bill, solar projects also get additional board members: one elected official each from the township and county where the project is proposed.
The board uses seven criteria to decide solar projects, including environmental, socioeconomic and community impacts. Butler said those are the same criteria used to permit other power projects that use natural gas or wind.
But these days, as both support and opposition to solar projects grows, public interest plays an especially important role.
Organized opposition — and support
“Increasingly, almost every project has organized opposition with a hired lawyer," said Douglas Herling, Vice President of Open Road Renewables.
Open Road Renewables is the developer behind Harvey Solar and other Ohio solar projects, including Frasier Solar in Knox County. That project is still awaiting a decision from the siting board.
Herling said it used to be pretty rare that an approved project was appealed. These days, things are different.
“Folks are pretty rapidly creating and passing along a playbook that gets kind of improved each time on how to how to fight these projects," Herling said.
He said there is a lot of misinformation circulating when it comes to solar and local projects which now sometimes see opposition from national groups.
"We saw it come to a head on the Frasier project with an actual national oil and gas group backing or kind of astroturfing some opposition," Herling said. "There was local grassroots opposition to that project as well. But seeing that come in really, really opened our eyes."
At the same time, groups that support large-scale solar have organized. Two such groups are Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, or CICE, and Ohio Conservative Energy.
CICE is a national organization of chambers of commerce and economic development groups that looks to promote clean energy. Ohio Conservative Energy is made up of conservationists that work directly with landowners and farmers.
Ohio's solar projects
Even without the noise of support and opposition from local communities and large organizations, the permitting process in Ohio takes time. It starts with environmental studies and includes public meetings and formal court hearings.
Herling said it can take about two years.
“When you tack on the Supreme Court appeal, it can easily be four years," he said.
Still, solar facilities in Ohio are coming online. The siting board has actually approved far more solar projects than it's rejected. The siting board's Butler said in the last five years, the board has approved around 40 projects in the state and denied about five.
Most the state's solar projects are in central and western Ohio, where the land is generally flatter.
In central Ohio, about a dozen solar projects have been approved, are under construction, or are already operational. The 800-megawatt Oak Run Solar in Madison County will be the state’s largest operation to date when it’s finished.
The siting board also recently denied two projects: Circleville Solar in Pickaway County and Richwood Solar in Union County.
Of course, Ohio is not exactly the sunshine state.
So, why build solar projects in Ohio?
“You're right. It's not the sunniest place around. But Ohio does have incredible demand for electricity," Herling said.
Herling says Ohio is part of a very large electric grid called PJM that stretches from the East Coast to parts of Chicago.
“Ohio, of the states that are in that grid, is one of the few that has room to put in solar. A lot of other states are pretty hilly or very developed," Herling said.
He added that Ohio has plenty of flat, previously disturbed land that is perfect for placing solar panels, and the state has ample power infrastructure leftover from coal plants that have shut down.
“Really the board is just interested in ensuring that the state has the – the resources in place to make sure that Ohio can continue to prosper economically."- Matt Butler, Ohio Power Siting Board spokesman
Demand on the grid
The state is also expected to see a rising demand for energy.
"I think as everybody knows and has been reading in the news recently with all these new data centers and other facilities coming online across the state of Ohio, there is an increased need for power in the state," said Butler.
He said board will take that into consideration as it looks at all possible new energy projects.
“Really the board is just interested in ensuring that the state has the resources in place to make sure that Ohio can continue to prosper economically," Butler said.
Open Road Renewables is developing another solar project in Logan County, Grange Solar Grazing Center. As the name suggests, the 500-megawatt solar farm will be grazed by 5,000 to 8,000 sheep.
Herling said that using sheep is quieter than mowing, and the animals fit well beneath solar panels and don't cause any damage like some other livestock.
Herling also said while most of Ohio’s energy will likely still come from gas and nuclear, there’s a place for solar. He believes some communities are going to ask for the taxes, jobs and diversification that solar power brings.
“Solar is never going to be the source for 100% of your power here in Ohio. If it's 5 or 10%, that would be incredible," Herling said.
The Ohio Supreme Court typically issues decisions within six to nine months after oral arguments.
