Ohio solar project listening sessions aim to increase projects’ chances of success • Ohio Capital Journal

Solar developers hope that listening to local communities in Ohio during the design phase will increase their chances of success before state regulators.

“We’re really invested and committed to being good neighbors,” said Lindsey Workman, community affairs manager for Vesper Energy. The company has held three community outreach sessions in Greene County this spring related to the proposed Aviation Energy Center project, in addition to previous meetings with trustees of several municipalities.

Another developer, Open Road Renewables, also held listening tour sessions this spring to learn about community issues and residents’ concerns about the proposed Grange Solar project in Logan County. The meetings began in late April and continued through June.

The companies’ proactive approach to community engagement comes as some solar projects in Ohio have faced significant local opposition, often fueled by fossil fuel interests. State policy under a 2021 law known as Senate Bill 52 also authorized anti-solar groups to ban many renewable energy projects or pressure local officials to oppose them.

“I think it’s going to be a trend” to seek community input early on, especially if it helps reduce local opposition, said Jane Harf, executive director of Green Energy Ohio, which counts many solar developers among its members. At the same time, “it’s really hard to quantify opposition,” Harf added. A minority of opponents can be much more vocal and put more pressure on local officials than a majority of people who are supportive or simply neutral.

“And (there is) a lot of organized opposition,” Harf said. “It is not just grassroots opposition. It is fueled by national organizations.”

Open Road Renewables is currently facing challenges from two opposition groups over its proposed Frasier Solar project in Knox County. Energy News Network has reported ties between speakers from one of the groups and pro-fossil fuel interests.

Vesper Energy has faced opposition to its proposed Kingwood Solar project in Greene County, prompting the Ohio Power Siting Board to reject the company’s application based on significant local opposition. The case is being appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. The company argues that the board’s legal responsibility to determine the public interest goes beyond assessing how popular a project appears to be locally based on the number of comments for or against it.

These companies hope that early, proactive community engagement will help facilitate the implementation of their latest projects before they begin the formal process of determining plant locations.

“We place a very strong emphasis on public engagement and, more importantly, listening to the concerns of as many stakeholders in the community as possible,” said Doug Herling, vice president of Open Road Renewables.

Patricia Hicks heads Outcomes Management Group, a Columbus-based consulting firm that helped lead the listening sessions for Open Road Renewables. The team aimed to invite people from a broad spectrum of the county.

“You want to make sure you don’t just get one group of people providing information,” she said. “You don’t want to have a biased group listening.”

During the sessions, small groups were also asked both closed and open-ended questions. Hicks’ firm is currently working on finalizing a report on the feedback, both positive and negative.

Using the knowledge gained

While the companies say the boundaries of the Aviation Energy Center and Grange Solar projects have not yet been finalized, they say input from the community will help determine those boundaries.

Open Road Renewables plans to use Hicks’ report to develop a set of commitments to the community. Getting feedback earlier in the process could help the company tailor the project to specific concerns rather than waiting to negotiate more permit conditions later, Herling said.

The Outcomes Management Group’s final report will also help the company strengthen the community concerns section of the project’s Power Siting Board application, Herling said. Hicks expects the work will also help the company with future communications efforts related to the project.

Vesper Energy has already committed that the Aviation Energy Center project will not border nonparticipating landowners’ properties on more than one side, Workman said. Setbacks from residential property lines, state parks and other public lands also will be between 300 and 500 feet, which is more than Ohio Power Siting Board regulations require.

“We care about feedback, and that’s what we heard,” Workman said.

Workman said Vesper Energy is willing to make similar commitments if it wins Kingwood Solar’s ​​appeal. She also noted that the company has donated nearly $40,000 over the past year to support work in Greene County by nonprofits, including the Ohio State Parks Foundation, Camp Clifton 4-H Camp, Yellow Springs Community Foundation, Family Promise of Greene County and the Greene County FISH Pantry.

“There are no restrictions,” Workman said. “We’re trying to make sure we’re good neighbors.”

These types of strategies also rely on the idea that listening now can save us headaches later.

“Securing Your Bases”

Participants and others praised the companies’ approach, but it is too early to tell whether it will prove effective.

Logan County Administrator David Henry did not attend the Grange Solar sessions in person and said he was unable to speak for or against the project. He added that new, ungranted projects are prohibited for unincorporated areas of most county municipalities under SB 52. Nevertheless, Henry praised Open Road Renewables for organizing the session on the proposed project.

“I will say I’m glad Open Road Renewables is allowing the public to voice their opinions on this, both positive and negative—they’ve had plenty of them,” Henry said. “I think it’s a good idea for them to let people have their say.”

Greene County Board of Commissioners declined to comment for this story because of the ongoing litigation, said Ashley Schommer of the Greene County office. The county is one of the intervenors against the Kingwood Solar project in Vesper Energy’s appeal.

“Vesper seems interested in listening to the community and seeing what it can do to become a cooperative business entity,” said Kate LeVesconte, a local resident who is part of a local pro-solar group. “I think it’s a really good idea when it interacts with legitimate concerns and not fear fueled by misinformation.”

Unfortunately, LeVesconte added, she hears a lot of misinformation, including claims of contamination, arguments about whether farmland can be restored and the like.

“We still face an uphill battle because there is a perception in this relatively conservative region that solar farms are probably not a good fit for prime farmland,” she said.

Real estate agent Chris Blosser, who attended one of four Open Road Renewables listening sessions in Logan County, said the company “does everything right and takes care of all their bases. They do things to address people’s concerns.”

As an example, she cited the company’s commitment to pay a deposit upfront to restore the property to a usable condition at the end of the project period.

“Unfortunately, there’s a pretty organized effort to fight this installation,” Blosser said. Others at the listening session she attended had been to anti-solar meetings before. “And they had information handed to them on a platter.”

A large percentage of people who attended Open Road Renewables sessions or responded to the online survey said they got their news from social media, Hicks said. As a result, many people relied on information that wasn’t verified.

At the same time, many people at the meetings wanted to ask questions, she noted. And if people were able to remain open, they might see the potential benefits of the project, Hicks said. In addition to asking about concerns, attendees were asked how they would like to see the company’s payments used in the community. The responses included new insights for the company to consider.

“Listening brings up a lot of interesting discoveries,” Hicks said.

Obstacles remain

Meanwhile, opponents of utility-scale solar projects are holding their own meetings to stir up discontent.

For example, Citizens for Greene Acres is Vesper Energy’s opponent in the Kingwood Solar case, and most of its activities to date have focused on that project.

And in Logan County, the group Indian Lake Against Industrial Solar has mobilized to oppose Open Road Renewables’ Grange Solar project. The county has experience with two other anti-solar groups opposing the proposed Fountain Point solar farm: No Solar in Logan County and Citizens against Fountain Point.

“Solar developers earn the community’s trust by proactively communicating with stakeholders and responding to questions from community members,” said Will Hinman, executive director of the Utility Scale Solar Energy Coalition of Ohio. Conversations begin before applications are submitted and continue throughout the siting, construction and operations of projects.

For now, Vesper Energy and Open Road Renewables hope their efforts and planned follow-up actions will build on that trust.

Grange Solar and Aviation Energy Center are in the early stages. The efforts by both developers are coming ahead of two public information meetings they will be required to hold before submitting formal applications for the projects. The updated Ohio Power Siting Board rule went into effect May 30.

Open Road Renewables plans to submit its application in September, Herling said. The company expects to receive a decision from the Ohio Power Siting Board by the end of next year.

Vesper Energy doesn’t yet have a final timeline for the Aviation Energy Center or the Kingwood Solar project. “That commitment to community is our guiding principle,” Workman said. “Our goal is to get this done right, no matter how long it takes.”

This article originally appeared on Energy News Network and is reprinted here under a Creative Commons license.