The Union County Commissioners this week held discussions to better understand how solar farms could impact the community.
“They (solar farms) have been good to work with,” said Hardin County Commissioner Roger Crowe, who participated in Tuesday’s commissioner’s meeting.
Crowe said phase one of the Hardin Solar project went on line at the end of December. He said there are two other phases planned for the project.
In 2020, Invenergy and Acciona Energy each applied to construct solar energy projects in the northern part of Union County.
The Acciona Energy project, named Union Solar, is a planned 25-megawatt solar powered electric generating facility on about 3,500 acres near the intersection of Routes 31 and 739 in York and Washington townships. Construction of that facility is set to begin in the first quarter of 2022. Acciona officials said it could be scheduled to be in service by the first quarter of 2023.
Invenergy’s proposed project, Cadence Solar Energy Center, is a 275-megawatt solar powered electric generation facility. The company already has about 5,100 acres under lease in Union County. The majority of the land is south of Route 47, between Yearsly and Storms roads and north of Route 347. Officials said they expect to begin construction in the first quarter of 2022 and expect to be online operational and generating power by the end of 2023.
In Hardin County, Crowe said company officials selected some of the best farm land in the area for the project because, for a variety of reasons, it met their needs for the project. He said there was initially a lot of frustration from local farmers, concerned about the company using farmland for the solar project.
Solar farm officials have said Union County is an ideal location because the land is flat and close to needed infrastructure and because Ohio and the community are open to new technology and ideas. They have said the solar farms will pay millions in local, especially school, tax dollars.
Crowe said that in Hardin County the company offered a payment in lieu of taxes called “PILOT.”
Under the state’s PILOT guidelines for solar projects, developers pay $7,000 per MW but must employ at least 80% Ohio residents. Additionally, project developers receiving the PILOT must meet other requirements including repairing the roads impacted by construction, providing training so fire and emergency personnel can respond to emergencies related to the project and creating a relationship with a state institution of higher education to educate and train individuals for careers in the wind or solar energy industry.
Crowe said the company did have an agreement with the engineer’s office to care for the roads, but he did not have the details.
Union County Commissioner Dave Burke asked why a county would offer a tax incentive to the developer. Crowe said Hardin County officials believe that in the long run, developers will pay more with the PILOT option than with a traditional tax structure or with the land as farm ground.
Crowe said the project was a boost “to some of these entities, especially the school district.”
He said the county auditor is still working through the valuation for the land.
Crowe said that, “overall they seem to be very community friendly.”
He said the developer has contributed to the community museum and to parks.
“They are giving back,” Crowe said. “We just don’t have a grasp of what all they are doing.”
He added that, “they have been pretty receptive and when we said we had to have something, they pretty much agree to it.”
Commissioner Steve Robinson has opposed the project, largely because of the impact it could have on drainage in the area. He has said he doesn’t believe developers can install the panels without breaking drainage tiles under the fields.
Crowe explained that in Hardin County, the developer hired a local tile company to be on-site during construction.
“When they hit a tile, they had the tile company come in and make the correction,” Crowe said, noting that the quality of the repair would be dependent on the quality of the local contractor.
Robinson asked about the lease agreements saying he heard they were “all over the place.”
Crowe said there is a variety of lengths, but the landowners, “make out very well.”
“We purposefully tried to stay out of the lease process,” Crowe said. “That is a decision between the business owner and the land owner.”
The Ohio Revised Code provides a general exemption from local zoning for major utility facilities so local zoning does not apply to a facility that holds an OPSB certificate.
While other projects have been discussed, only the Invenergy and Acciona Energy projects have been formally proposed to the Ohio Power Siting Board.