Thursday, November 21, 2024
Tags Posts tagged with "wind"

Tag: wind

A new 250 MW wind farm is up and running in Hardin and Logan counties in Ohio. RWE Renewables announced June 2 its Scioto Ridge Wind Farm started commercial operation. The project includes 75 turbines.

A bill that would allow for local say in the approval process for utility-scale wind and solar projects passed the Ohio Senate. Senate Bill 52 passed the Senate Energy and Public Utilities committee in the morning, June 2, and passed the full Senate later that day.

The new mechanism for local control was created in part to address concerns from the renewables industry that the original bill would have resulted in a de facto moratorium on large-scale wind and solar development. But the solar industry says it was never consulted on the drafting of the new bill language.

House Bill 302 would revert the setbacks for wind farms of 5 megawatts or more to pre-2014 levels. Currently, the minimum setback rule is 1,125 feet from the tip of the turbine’s nearest horizontal blade to the nearest adjacent property line. The legislation would change that back to be measured from the nearest home.

Instead of setting up a referendum process for residents to approve each large renewable energy project, a sub bill added onto Ohio House Bill 118 would instead let townships designate certain areas of the community for utility-scale solar and wind developments.

Amazon is behind two new solar projects in Ohio. The company is also supporting nine other solar projects and one wind project in Ohio that will produce in total more than 1,000 megawatts of power.

Supporters of the Ohio SB 52 and HB 118 say there is a need for more local say in these types of projects and that the current public input process through the Ohio Power Siting Board isn’t effective.

Ohio Senate Bill 52 would set up a referendum process on wind farm and solar facility certificates before the projects go to the Ohio Power Siting Board.