The Ohio Power Siting Board rejected a permit for a Clark County solar project Wednesday, adding to a regulatory graveyard of renewable energy developments killed by state officials.
Invenergy, of Illinois, wanted to build Sloopy Solar, a 3,200-acre development of more than 357,000 solar panels that developers say could power more than 33,000 homes. The developers expected to spend tens of millions on construction and pay about $1.62 million per year in local taxes alone once the project was operational.
However, the Clark County Board of Commissioners and trustees of Harmony Twp. both formally opposed the project, as did some neighboring local government bodies.
This opposition became the driving force for staff at the Ohio Power Siting Board to recommend rejection under a legal requirement that the project meets the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” The regulators didn’t identify any threats to the environment or water systems nearby.
Sloopy Solar is now the eighth utility-scale solar project stopped cold by the OPSB in light of local-level conservative opposition.
“The Board finds that the unanimous opposition from each local government entity as well as the overwhelming public opposition outweighs the various positives attributes of the project and, thus, necessitates a finding against the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” the OPSB opinion, heeding the staff recommendation, states.
Labor unions lament loss of jobs from solar farm
In Clark County, as is typical with solar projects, unions and the Chamber of Commerce supported the development, emphasizing the jobs associated with construction, the economic inputs and outputs, and payouts to landowners who lease their farms.
However, conservative political opposition to utility-scale renewables has spread wide and deep. Republicans in 2021 passed a state law that has allowed 27 Ohio counties to ban wind and solar outright. Citizens have stuffed public hearings to speak out against proposed developments and rejected them on the ballot, raising concerns about the viewshed, noise, possible decline in property values and others.
The Ohio Power Siting Board has rejected eight permit requests for solar farms since 2020. And more recently, the six Republicans on the Ohio Supreme Court voted to at least temporarily overturn a permit that had been granted by the OPSB to a solar developer.
Gaby Rubio, manager of development for Invenergy, said the company is disappointed by the ruling.
“Sloopy Solar represents an opportunity to deliver reliable, Ohio-generated energy to support increasing electricity demand, strengthen regional economic and workforce development, and provide long-term local economic benefits to Clark County and surrounding communities,” he said. “We are currently reviewing the Board’s decision and evaluating next steps.”
Three local unions – the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 683, the Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 1410, and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18 – said rejection means the loss of 200 construction jobs.
“When projects like this get turned away, workers lose an opportunity for steady paychecks, apprentices lose a path forward, and our community loses the kind of long-term economic benefit that helps everyone,” said Pat Hook, business manager for IBEW Local 683, in a statement. “That’s the part that really concerns me. These are the jobs and the future we should be fighting to keep here at home.”