This letter is in support of the 120 MW Frasier Solar Project in Knox County. Since the passage of SB52, many Ohio counties are vetoing utility-scale renewable projects. They are being misled by an anonymously funded group spreading misinformation about rural solar projects. The much-needed economic benefits these projects could bring to communities and farmers are lost.
Ohio farmers face obstacles, but not from renewable energy. Farmers in the Midwest are experiencing the effects of climate change; “increased average temperatures, changes in rainfall that can lead to flooding or droughts, and an increase in extreme weather events that can adversely affect crops,” especially corn and soybeans, the top two crops produced in Ohio.
Agrivoltaics is a type of farming that uses a symbiotic relationship between solar panels and crops. Livestock can graze and crops can be grown under solar panels. Benefits from this method include less crop water use, increased solar production due to panel cooling from the crops, and less damage to crops from wind and hail.
Solar panel companies in Ohio are providing many long-term high-paying jobs in local communities. In 2021, First Solar in Toledo, Ohio, which already has two plants in Ohio, announced a third Ohio plant, which will produce thin film PV modules. This $680 million investment will be second only to China in number of panels produced.
“The groundbreaking 800 MW, 5700-acre ‘dual use’ development known as the Oak Run Solar Project in central Ohio, recently filed plans to implement agrivoltaics at a record-shattering scale. The project also proposes to launch a national training center in agrivoltaics.” In 2022, the Ohio Power Siting Board approved a 100 MW solar array in Harrison County, Nottingham Solar, LLC. The project is expected to generate over $29 million over 35 years.
Technological improvements have now made renewable green energy cheaper than fossil fuels. Yet, the Appalachian counties of Ohio are not cashing in on solar benefits. Ohio currently produces only four percent of its electricity using renewable energy, but Ohio wants to produce “green steel” in order to de-carbonize the steel-making process. Green steel uses green hydrogen to replace coke in the reduction phase.
Without a significant investment in solar power, Ohio’s citizens and workers can only watch from the sidelines as other states invest in and reap the rewards of renewable energy projects.
Randi Pokladnik, AAS Environmental Engineering, BA Chemistry, MA and PhD Environmental Studies (proud owner of a rooftop 8.4kW residential solar system.
