By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

PREBLE COUNTY, Ohio — Two proposed large-scale solar projects have some farmers in Preble County worried. They are not opposed to solar, said Rachael Vonderhaar, but they have concerns about the projects Open Roads Renewables, LLC, plans to build on agricultural ground. Her family owns farmland adjoining one of the projects.

“Brown County (in Ohio) had a project that was approved and broke ground in 2018 which doubled in size shortly after that,” Vonderhaar said. “Then it was sold to a Canadian Company. My fear is we’re going to have all this large scale solar and these acres all pulled out of agriculture before we have a real conversation on, is this good for the State of Ohio.”

Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) is hearing concerns from other farmers in the state, said Dale Arnold, Director, Energy, Utility and Local Government Policy, OFBF.

“We see a tremendous amount of this not only in Preble County,” Arnold said. “There are about 12 different projects (in Ohio) that are megawatt utility-scale solar developments. A lot of people have particular questions especially concerning transparency and being notified.”

The two Preble County projects now before the Ohio Power Sighting Board (OPSB), are both subsidiaries of Open Roads Renewables. Alamo I, LLC, will take a maximum of 919 acres, said Douglas Herling, Director of Business Development at Open Road Renewables. The second, Angelina I, LLC, will occupy about 827 acres.

Vonderhaar is a member of Concerned Citizens of Preble County; they are opposed to the projects for many reasons including that lack of transparency.

“They didn’t have a public meeting until November,” Vonderhaar said. “They sent out a notice two weeks before, and during those two weeks, they had a website where you could learn about your rights. The people were leased into the project 24 months before that.”

Open Roads Renewables has had leases on the farms nearby since the end of 2016 Herling said. They began outreach to the public when they received permission from the state to use the grid in December of 2018.

“The OPSB process that we’re involved in now and what some of the farmers are referring to is a very transparent process,” Herling said. “The 500-page application is available in print if anyone requests a copy. It is also available at libraries in addition to being available online. Any comments or any analysis of that by the OPSB is also available online and in print.”

Arnold suggests how information on solar projects is disseminated may need to be updated. He said he has talked with people who remember getting a letter, but they didn’t read it because they didn’t think it applied to them. “Email and electronic communication are important,” he said.

“Energy service providers and developers need to focus on this issue, having more than the rules and regulations that the OPSB says you need to have,” said Arnold.

Besides transparency, the Preble Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), whose board took a neutral stance on the solar projects, wants to ensure the existing drainage, surface and subsurface, is maintained; especially as it goes in and out of the project, said BJ Price, Preble SWCD district administrator and soil technician.

Drainage can cross property lines, Herling said. Open Roads Renewables is bound by the landowner leases and by a condition the state puts into the permit to avoid damaging any of this drainage or changing the water flows in a way that could impact neighbors.

Also, Open Road Renewables has requested that the land they leased into the project to be exempt from property taxes, and have a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) instead.

Instead of paying a normal tax on the ground, Open Roads Renewable would annually pay $7,000 per megawatt to the taxing jurisdiction where the project is, and $2,000 a megawatt to the county general fund, Herling said. 

“That’s totaling $9,000 per acre,” he said. “To put that in context it is about $11,000 per acre (annual fee) on land that is currently paying $30 to $50 per acre in the CAUV program. PILOT expires after 2020 so there is a lot of time under that program, and it could be extended.”

“Here in Ohio there is not a way that the money would come in from the PILOT and backfill the empty spot of the levies on the property,” Vonderhaar said. “So the millage would shift to those around it. We have a concern about that, and they’re just now talking about that in Ohio because there are no two counties that are doing it the same.”

None of that answers Vonderhaar’s main concern: “When we’re talking about solar, couldn’t we be more creative and problem-solving to where we’re not utilizing valuable, fertile soil to put solar on, but instead putting solar where it is not going to impact our food supply?”

Open Roads Renewables is sensitive that they are taking land out of agricultural use but the solar farms are set up to be temporary land use, Herling said. After 30 to 40 years that land can be farmed again, according to the contracts the company holds with the landowners. The solar company is bound to decommission the project and money is set aside to do that. 

“Also, folks are concerned that if there is one solar farm there are going to be a lot of solar farms,” Herling said. “But there are a lot of constraints on the electric grid that will prevent that from being the case. You can only put so much power in the line so there is a finite number of projects that can be built in the area.”