A proposed solar project with sheep grazing in Logan County withdrew its application with the state.
Grange Solar Grazing Center would have put solar panels on around 2,600 acres of privately-owned land in Washington, Stokes, Richland, McArthur and Bloomfield townships in the Indian Lake area. It was set to generate around 500 megawatts of power and provide grazing for local sheep herds.
Open Road Renewables was developing the site. The company said the decision to withdraw its application with the Ohio Power Siting Board, the entity that regulates energy projects in the state, came after OPSB staff recommended denying the application.
OPSB staff wrote in their findings that Open Road Renewables “failed to establish that the facility will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity as required.”
“Under the system created by the Ohio Power Siting Board, their staff places great emphasis on stated positions of local officials,” Open Road Renewables Vice President Doug Herling said in a statement. “Here, an opposition group spoke loudly about their fears of solar projects and convinced local public officials to share those fears – even though they were based on misinformation or outright lies.”
The trustees in all five townships in the project area had filed their official opposition in the OPSB case.
Herling said Grange Solar would have brought jobs, wages and millions of dollars in annual tax revenues to local schools and townships.
Earlier this month, Herling told WOSU that solar projects in Ohio and across the country have seen more organized opposition with hired lawyers and formulaic playbooks.
Another one of Open Road Renewables’ projects, Harvey Solar, is in limbo as an Ohio Supreme Court considers an appeal of the OPSB’s approval of the project. Open Road Renewables’ proposed project in Knox County, Frasier Solar, became a flashpoint in last year’s Republican County Commissioner primary race, and garnered both organized opposition and organized local support.
