by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio’s solar industry and some farmers are eagerly hoping for state lawmakers to approve a community power pilot. The bill’s backers initially tacked it onto the massive utility overhaul lawmakers approved earlier this year, but the program didn’t make the final cut. Now, they’re working to pass the pilot as a standalone bill
Boosters’ view
Roger Sikes, a campaigner with Solar United Neighbors, sees new momentum behind the effort. Ohio is a net importer of energy, with a rapidly growing data center sector placing even greater demands on the grid. Energy bills have shot up and don’t seem likely to come down in the immediate future.
“So that creates a context where we, in Ohio, we need energy generation,” Sikes said. “We need much more energy generation quickly, and we need to increase capacity. That has, I think, pushed legislators to have more urgency around creating generation sources.”
Just a few years ago, Sikes doesn’t think lawmakers would’ve been willing to try new things. But with their constituents struggling to balance higher grocery prices, property taxes and energy bills, there’s greater interest in outside the box ideas.
Ohio’s central energy challenge is demand outstripping supply. Lawmakers began to address that in this summer’s overhaul package House Bill 15. Among the changes, the bill opened the door to so-called ‘behind the meter’ generation — think small scale power plants built to provide energy directly to new data centers or other energy intensive industries.
Sikes sees the community solar pilot, House Bill 303, as another measure pushing in the same direction. Instead of power generation dedicated to a particular commercial enterprise, the program allows a group of residents to go in on a small power facility together. The energy would go to the grid, and participants would see a rebate on their monthly power bill.
The effort is structured as a four-year pilot program, capped at a total of 1,500 megawatts around the state. All told, Sikes said, that much energy could power about 300,000 homes. The legislation also caps the size of individual power facilities at 10 megawatts or 20 megawatts if it’s built on a brownfield.
Community power facilities can use several different energy sources, including natural gas, but Sikes think solar has a natural advantage. “Community solar is just way faster getting these electrons onto the grid,” he said, noting projects can be up and running in as little as nine months.
That said, solar developments in particular face unique headwinds in Ohio. A four-year-old state law grants local governments the authority to block solar and wind developments. In addition, projects that get regulatory approval might be uneconomical with the federal government pulling back on solar subsidies.
About five years ago, solar companies came calling at Mark Clay’s Ashtabula County farm.
“I went through and talked with all of them, got an attorney, picked one, (and) we got a lease,” he said. “Everything went through, and they just recently dropped me due to the current situation with the current administration.”
At about 47 acres, Clay’s farm is small, but increasingly difficult to manage on his own. He gets solicited on a weekly basis by developers who want to turn the land into a subdivision. “I really don’t want to do that,” he said. “I would like to be able to hold on to the farm and make it work for my family.” Clay thinks the community power pilot could give him additional income — helping him keep the land with his family and doing something good for his community.
Steve Mondak, who farms 120 acres in Columbiana County, made a similar argument. He’s paying “almost to the penny” double what he did 30 years ago when he bought his farm.
“We need to bring costs down across the board,” Mondak said. “Electricity is a big one, a big factor in most people’s budgets. If we can control it, if we can empower individuals to create their own electricity, to be able to sell a little bit back to the to the companies, reduce their bills?”
“Who would, in their right mind, go against that?” he asked. “That seems like, I mean, it’s just a no brainer.”
Opposition and reticence
Ohio’s power challenges have had a marked effect on the lawmakers tasked with debating energy policy. In the House and Senate Energy committees, Republicans and Democrats have able to work together to advance legislation with substantial bipartisan support. Supporters hope the community power pilot will be another example. The Senate version of the proposal, Senate Bill 231, has bipartisan co-sponsors, for instance.
But Ohio’s monopoly utilities oppose the idea. AEP Ohio and an industry group representing utilities criticized the arrangement. They believe customers who aren’t subscribing to community power programs will wind up paying some of the cost for customers who are subscribing.
It’s a point that the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, Maureen Willis, brought up as well. In committee testimony she suggested several changes aimed at ensuring costs are borne by the people using the program, and bill credits reflect the program’s actual savings.
Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: [email protected].
