Ottawa County: Wind farms, solar fields to be discussed

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The Ottawa County commissioners have scheduled a public meeting for Dec. 13 to discuss a resolution to designate unincorporated areas where wind farms and large solar facilities can be prohibited.
The meeting will start at 3:30 p.m. in the Emergency Operations Center in the county courthouse, 315 Madison St., Port Clinton.
The commissioners in September accepted public comment from township officials and residents on Senate Bill 52 – a new state law that places requirements on wind and solar energy development and alters the Ohio Power Siting Board permit process.
The bill allows county boards of commissioners to designate all or part of unincorporated areas of the county as a restricted area in which a utility facility can’t be permitted by the siting board for construction.
The bill designates three categories of utility facility:
-Economically significant wind farm is defined as wind turbines with a single connection to the electric grid and designed for operating at an aggregate of five or more megawatts but less than 50 megawatts.
-Large solar facility is defined as an electric generating plant consisting of solar panels with a single connection to the grid designed for operating at 50 megawatts or more.
-Large wind farm is defined as an electric generating plant consisting of wind turbines with a single connection to the grid that is also a major utility facility.
At the request of the county commissioners, each township board of trustees in the county submitted resolutions indicating the areas of their respective townships where large utility facilities, if any, should be allowed to locate or whether they should be prohibited.
Daniel Sawmiller, Ohio Energy Policy Director of The Natural Resources Defense Council, submitted opponent testimony to the bill while it was pending before the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee.
“NRDC has extensive experience working before the Public Utilities Commission and the Ohio Power Siting Board in Ohio and can offer our expertise if the legislature feels strongly that reform is needed. It is worth noting however that the Ohio Power Siting Board is currently engaged in a 5-year rule review process that will address the same topics covered by this legislation,” he said. “Many impacted stakeholders are already engaged in that public rule review process, which should be allowed to conclude prior to making preemptive changes to Ohio’s renewable energy siting laws. Furthermore, we suggest that the power siting board be brought before this committee to provide further clarification on the current siting process and the diligence their expert staff members apply to soliciting and responding to local community feedback when renewable energy projects are proposed in the state.”
Adrian Whetstone, of Auglaize Townships United, offered proponent testimony for SB 52.
“Our homes are in a residential/agricultural rural setting and we bought our homes for that very reason. Our property values will decrease due to the proposed project converting the community into more of an industrial area. The amount of prime farmland in our county will be lost at an alarming rate. I am very concerned about our quality of life being affected in such close proximity to wind/ solar fields,” he said.