Ohio’s judiciary has delivered a new twist in the state’s renewable energy narrative. The Ohio Supreme Court has invalidated the permit for a vast 6,000-acre solar and battery installation in Madison County. This decision marks another hurdle for solar energy initiatives in the state, which have faced increasing scrutiny and resistance.
The court’s decision emerged from a divided ruling by Republican justices, responding to a challenge from local authorities against the Oak Run Solar project, planned to be nestled between Columbus and Dayton. While not an absolute termination, the ruling poses a significant delay for the project.
The majority of justices dismissed many concerns about the project’s impact on aesthetics, wildlife, and hydrology. However, they identified a critical oversight: the project application lacked visual simulations of substations from public viewpoints. The court instructed the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) to reassess this aspect. Justice Pat Fischer noted, “By failing to provide any photographic simulations or pictorial sketches from public vantage points that show the substations’ support structures, which appear to be some of the project’s tallest features, Oak Run did not meet the rule’s requirements.”
This ruling is notable as it diverges from the recent trend where the OPSB itself has been the entity rejecting large solar farm permits. The Ohio Supreme Court has typically upheld the OPSB’s decisions when challenged, marking this as a rare intervention.
Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy expressed a broader concern, arguing that the developers did not adequately address water quality and fire safety. She criticized the court’s decision as “arbitrary and unreasonable.” Meanwhile, Justice Jennifer Brunner, the sole Democrat on the bench, dissented, suggesting that the OPSB had indeed considered the project’s visual impact sufficiently.
Oak Run Solar
The proposed Oak Run Solar project, backed by Savion (a subsidiary of Shell), aims to generate approximately 800,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, which could power 170,000 homes. The facility would also integrate two 150 megawatt batteries to ensure continuous energy storage.
The project is designed to be an “agrovoltaic” initiative, potentially incorporating agricultural activities like beekeeping and sheep grazing alongside its solar operations. Despite the project’s scale, specific details such as its total cost remain undisclosed. However, developers have promised significant economic contributions, including 3,033 construction jobs, 63 permanent positions, and an annual economic output of $8.3 million.
The land for the project is largely owned by Midwest Farms LLC. Historical records connect Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to this entity, though no comments have been made regarding the current ruling or land ownership.
Challenging Path for Solar in Ohio
Ohio’s solar energy projects have repeatedly faced obstacles due to a combination of a 2021 state law and a receptive regulatory environment that favors local opposition. The OPSB has denied permits for seven solar farms since 2020, citing a failure to meet public interest requirements rather than technical deficiencies.
Local resistance to solar projects in Ohio is palpable, with public hearings often filled with opponents and legal challenges frequently mounted by counties and townships. In Richland County, voters recently upheld a prohibition on wind and solar developments.
Furthermore, Republican-led counties across Ohio have enacted bans on renewable energy projects, leveraging state legislation that uniquely empowers local governments to veto such developments, a power not extended to fossil fuel projects.
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This article was originally published by Signal Ohio and shared through a partnership with The Associated Press.
