COLUMBUS — The Ohio Power Siting Board approved Clear Mountain Energy Center, LLC’s proposal to construct a solar-powered generating facility in Clermont County and denied Richwood Solar LLC’s proposal to construct a solar-powered generating facility in Union County.
Clear Mountain Energy Center
The 100-megawatt Clear Mountain Energy Center will be constructed in Batavia, Jackson and Williamsburg townships in Clermont County. The project will occupy 565 acres within a 1,226-acre project area and will consist of large arrays of solar panels ground-mounted on a tracking rack system and associated facilities, including a 52-MW battery energy storage system, access roads, electric collection lines, inverters and transformers, a collector substation and a generation interconnect transmission line.
Richwood Solar
The OPSB denied the application of Richwood Solar to construct a 250-MW solar-powered electric generating facility in Leesburg, Claibourne, and Taylor townships in Union County. The OPSB found that, based on the consistent opposition to the project from each of the local government entities and their constituents who are impacted, the proposed project would fail to serve the “public interest, convenience, and necessity” as required under Ohio law.
The OPSB noted that each of the local governments with physical contact to the project — Union County and Taylor, Leesburg and Claiborne townships — acted to oppose its approval and that the public comments and testimony received in the case reinforced the local government opposition. The project as proposed would have consisted of large arrays of solar panels and a 50-MW battery energy storage system occupying 1,217 acres within a 1,435-acre project area.
Circleville
In separate business, the OPSB denied the application for rehearing filed by Circleville Solar, LLC regarding its 70-MW Circleville Solar project in Pickaway County. The OPSB also authorized the Juliet Solar project to move the locations of the project collection substation, generation interconnection line and the operation and maintenance building at its facility in Wood County.
The board approved modifications to AEP Ohio Transmission Company’s Vigo-Pine Ridge Switch 138 and Pine Ridge Switch-Heppner 138 kV electric transmission line projects in Jackson and Ross counties, Duke Energy Ohio’s Butler County Phase II Natural Gas Pipeline project and Firelands Wind, LLC’s Emerson Creek Wind Farm project in Erie and Huron counties.
Additional information can be found on the OPSB website at OPSB.ohio.gov.
