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Ohio’s solar industry and some farmers are eagerly hoping that state lawmakers will approve a community energy pilot program. Supporters of the bill initially attached it to a massive media overhaul approved by lawmakers earlier this year, but the program did not make the final cut. Now they are working on adopting the pilot project as a separate bill.
Booster view
Roger Sikes, an activist with Solar United Neighbors, sees fresh impetus for these efforts. Ohio is net imports energy, and the rapidly growing data center sector places even greater demands on the network. Energy bills have skyrocketed and don’t seem likely to come down in the near future.
“This creates a context in which we in Ohio need energy generation,” Sikes said. “We need much more energy production quickly and we need to increase efficiency. I think this has prompted legislators to focus more urgently on creating generation sources.”
Just a few years ago, Sikes didn’t think lawmakers were willing to try fresh things. But as their voters struggle to balance higher grocery prices, property taxes and energy bills, interest in out-of-the-box ideas is growing.
Ohio’s main energy challenge is demand outpacing supply. Lawmakers began to address this in the summer recovery package House Bill 15. Among the changes, the bill opened the door to the so-called “off-the-meter” generation – for example, petite power plants built to supply power directly to fresh data centers or other energy-intensive industries.
Sikes sees local solar pilot, House Bill 303as another push in the same direction. Instead of generating energy dedicated to a specific commercial enterprise, the program allows a group of residents to collectively enter a petite power plant. The energy would be fed into the grid and participants would receive a discount on their monthly energy bills.
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The effort is in the form of a four-year pilot program with a total cap of 1,500 megawatts statewide. All told, Sikes said the vast amount of energy could power about 300,000 homes. The legislation also limits the size of individual energy facilities to 10 megawatts, or 20 megawatts if they are built on brownfield sites.
Community utilities can exploit several different energy sources, including natural gas, but Sikes believes solar has a natural advantage. “Community solar just gets those electrons onto the grid much faster,” he said, noting that projects could be up and running in as little as nine months.
That said, solar energy investments in particular face unique headwinds in Ohio. A four-year-old state law gives local governments the power to block solar and wind investments. Additionally, projects that receive regulatory approval may be uneconomic if the federal government withdraws solar subsidies.
About five years ago, solar companies visited Mark Clay’s Ashtabula County Farm.
“I went through and talked to everyone, found a lawyer, picked one and (and) we got a lease,” he said. “Everything went through, and they recently fired me because of the current situation with the current administration.”
Clay’s farm is about 47 acres and petite, but it’s increasingly tough to run it on his own. Every week he is contacted by developers who want to turn this area into a housing estate. “I really don’t want to do this,” he said. “I would like to be able to maintain the farm and make it work for my family.” Clay believes the energy pilot program could provide him with additional income – helping him preserve his land with his family and do something good for his community.
Steve Mondak, who has 120 acres in Columbiana County, made a similar argument. He pays “almost every penny” twice as much as he did when he bought the farm 30 years ago.
“We need to reduce costs across the board,” Mondak said. “Electricity is an essential issue, an essential part of most people’s budgets. If we can control it, if we can enable individuals to produce their own electricity so that we can sell some back to companies and reduce their bills?
“Who in their right mind would object to this?” he asked. “It just seems like a no-brainer.”
Opposition and restraint
Ohio’s energy challenges had a clear impact on lawmakers tasked with debating energy policy. In the House and Senate Energy Committees, Republicans and Democrats were able to work together to advance legislation with significant bipartisan support. Advocates hope the community energy pilot program will be another example. Senate version of the proposal, Senate Bill No. 231for example, it has cross-party co-sponsors.
But Ohio’s monopolists oppose the idea. AEP Ohio and an industry group representing utilities criticized the agreement. They believe that customers who do not subscribe to local energy programs will ultimately pay a portion of the cost to customers who do.
Maureen Willis, Ohio Consumer Advisor, also raised this issue. In committee testimony, she suggested several changes to ensure that costs are borne by those who exploit the program and that bill subsidies reflect real savings from the program.
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