Staff report released for solar energy project
Public input for the proposed Fountain Point Solar Energy Center is quickly drawing to a close, and individuals interesting in voicing their concerns or support of the solar-powered electric generating facility in Bokescreek and Rushcreek townships are urged to attend a public hearing next week.
The Ohio Power Siting Board hosts the hearing — slated for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, at Benjamin Logan High School.
The purpose of the local public hearing is to allow individuals to provide sworn testimony regarding the proposed facility. Testimony will be limited to five minutes per witness, and the hearing transcript will become part of the case record considered by the OPSB.
Witnesses will register when they arrive at the hearing and will testify in the order in which they register, the OPSB reports.
If a witness wishes to supplement their testimony with an exhibit, a copy of the document should be provided to the administrative law judge during the hearing.
Applicant Fountain Point Solar Energy LLC has proposed a 280-megawatt solar‑powered electric generation facility on 2,768-acre project area in the two Logan County townships. The project would include electrical collection lines, inverters, access roads, perimeter fencing, and a substation.
The solar project has been reduced from its formerly proposed footprint of 3,860 acres after the applicant removed the area of Perry Township from the project, the OPSB reports.
Fountain Point Solar Energy LLC officially submitted its application for the project in August, and just last week on Nov. 29, the OPSB released its official Staff Report, recommending the project. The detailed report is available to view at the OPSB’s website, www.OPSB.ohio.gov, by searching the case number, 21-1231-EL-BGN.
The Staff Report has drawn much criticism from Citizens Against Fountain Point LLC, which has formed in the last year. Members said the report either blatantly overlooked or there was a “serious lack of attention to detail” to the amount of local opposition to the project, noting that residents have either electronically delivered or hand-delivered more than 1,000 letters of opposition, which aren’t well represented in the report.
“They aren’t being objective,” said member Paul Schaller, whose property near West Mansfield would be surrounded on three sides by the project. “We’ve done a lot of work this year and they didn’t even see it.
“We are urging people to show up to the Dec. 14 hearing in droves and take their turn to speak. If you’re not fond of public speaking, that’s OK; just voicing your opinions about this project in a simple statement is important.”
In addition to the letters of opposition from residents, the Citizens Against Fountain Point LLC notes the official case documents include opposition to the project from the Logan County Commissioners, Rushcreek Township trustees, state representatives and letters from 13 of the 17 townships in the county.
The OPSB looks at eight different criteria while preparing their Staff Report and recommendations whether to approve or deny a project. One of those criteria is “that the facility will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.”
“The only real way for the community to stop this project is by hammering home this criteria,” Schaller said. “It is hard for me to argue with the majority of the determining criteria, because I can not possibly afford to conduct the studies costing millions of dollars that Invenergy submitted in order to fact check them.”
Several projects have been denied by the OPSB in recent months based on this specific criteria, including the Kingwood Solar Energy Center in Greene County and the Birch Solar I proposed in Auglaize and Allen counties, according to documented reports obtained through the state agency.
The recently released 60-page Staff Report for Fountain Point gives a number of details about the scope of the proposed solar energy center, including an estimated 103,000 steel piles would be driven into the ground for the approximately 675,000 monocrystalline panels.
“The solar arrays would be grouped in large clusters that would be fenced in with gated entrances. The highest point of each module would be approximately 15 feet, and the fence would not exceed 7 feet….
“The Applicant estimates the solar arrays would occupy approximately 1,707 acres of the project area,” the report states.
In addition, the applicant would install an underground collector system made up of a network of electric and communication lines that would transmit the electric power from the solar arrays to a central location. The applicant proposes to install approximately 31 miles of buried cable, the report states.
Within the project, Fountain Point Solar Energy LLC also proposes to construct approximately 18.6 miles of new access roads for construction, operation, and maintenance of the solar facility.
Additionally, the project would include approximately 14 weather stations, along with an Operations and Maintenance Building to house maintenance and other associated equipment and accommodate one to four workers daily.
Following the Dec. 14 hearing, an evidentiary hearing is the next step in the application process, and it is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 23 at the Ohio Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, 180 E. Broad St., Columbus.
During the evidentiary hearing, the applicant, OPSB staff, and intervening parties provide expert testimony and evidence regarding the facility and cross-examine each other.
Interveners for the case include: Schaller, Kara Slonecker; Jeny Hammer; Jocelyn Kavanagh; Logan County Board of Commissioners; Rushcreek Township Board of Trustees; the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation; and Citizens Against Fountain Point LLC, Brent Vermillion, Jim Culp, Jocelyn Kavanagh, Alyssa Rice, Cliff Cronkelton, and Anthony Cogossi, according to the Staff Report.
Those who have filed requests to act as interveners will be able to speak at the hearing.
The public is invited to attend the proceedings, but are not able to speak unless they are an intervener for this case.
After the completion of the evidentiary hearing, a nine-member OPSB board will vote to either approve or deny the project application. Senate Bill 52’s provisions incorporate two local ad hoc members on the board who are able to cast their votes. The Board of Logan County Commissioners appointed Michael E. Yoder as its ad hoc member on the board, and the boards of trustees of Bokescreek and Rushcreek townships appointed Jeff Spencer as its ad hoc member.
All correspondence and petitions to intervene for this project must include reference to Case No. 21-1231-EL-BGN.