COLUMBUS — The Ohio Power Sitting Board approved three projects including a solar farm and two transmission lines. The board approved Mink Solar, LLC’s proposal to build a solar farm on 1,050 acres within a 1,800-acre project area in the village of Hicksville and Hicksville Township in Defiance County and Carryall Township in Paulding County.
It will consist of solar panels ground-mounted on a tracking rack system and associated facilities like access roads, underground and overhead electric collection lines and weather stations.
AES Ohio was authorized build a 18-mile long West Manchester-Blazer-Hodgin 138 kilovolt transmission line alongside its preferred route in Jackson, Jefferson, Monroe and Washington townships and the village of West Manchester in Preble County.
The board also approved alternations to the route AEP Ohio Transmission Company’s Althea-Sweetgum 138 kV transmission line in Scioto County and authorized Arche Solar Energy, LLC to use sheep grazing as an optional practice of vegetation management, alongside mechanized mowing, at its solar facility in Fulton County.
Additionally, the board denied two projects. Circleville Solar’s application to construct a 70 MW solar-powered electric generating facility in Jackson Township in Pickaway County was denied. The project would have consisted of solar panels on 750 acres within a project area of 1,630 acres. The OPSB decided that the project would not serve the “public interest, convenience, and necessity” as required by Ohio law. All three local governments with physical proximity to the project — the Pickaway County Commissioners, the Jackson Township Trustees and the Circleville City Council — opposed its approval, and the public comments filed in the case reinforced this.
The OPSB also denied the application for a rehearing filed by opponents of the 280 MW Fountain Point Solar project set to be constructed in Bokescreek Township in Logan County.
For more information, visit www.OPSB.ohio.gov.
