I am writing in opposition to the Frasier Solar Project that is owned by Open Road Renewables, LLC out of Austin, Texas and is currently under review by the Ohio Power Siting Board.
It is a 120MW, 840-acre solar, approximately 250,000 solar panel utility that would be located on the southwest edge of Mount Vernon.
Over 100 acres of the 840 acres of the project would be located within the Mount Vernon city limits between Sharp Road and State Route 13.
The PV solar panels that will be located on these 100 acres will be approximately 3500 feet (2/3 of a mile) southwest of the new 519-unit Liberty-Crossing housing development located at the south end of Mount Vernon City, and on the west side of State Route 13 (Newark Road).
The future city residences of Liberty Crossing will have a good view of 1000s of industrial solar panels on their SW and W horizon.
In addition, hundreds of acres of panels will be located south of Mount Vernon along and near State Route 661 and State Route 13 to greet the travelers coming to Mount Vernon via our Southern Gateway.
Consider the following:
First: Whether one believes we have a climate issue or not, it makes no sense to replace our current efficient and reliable electric grid with inefficient and unreliable solar powered electric utilities.
There are better, reasonable ways to manage that issue
instead of destroying our electrical grid. Current power plants generate electricity at 35% – to 45% efficiency.
Some of the newer natural gas-fired power units are more efficient at over 50%.
The Open Road Renewables’ 200MW Hillcrest Solar Project that is located near Cincinnati has reported its power generating system efficiency for the past 2-1/2 years to be 10-12%.
This unacceptably low efficiency is why the developers of solar utilities need to lease 1,000s of acres of prime farmland and install 100,000s of solar panels to produce a mere few hundred MW of electrical power.
Besides being inefficient, solar utilities are very unreliable. Remember the sun does not shine at night and bad weather and cloud cover makes them undependable and unstable sources of electric power.
In addition, only the solar radiation that occurs in the 6-7 hours of the middle of the day can be effectively converted to electric power.
The government is mandating a diffuse, inefficient, and unreliable power grid that cannot support the reliable grid that the American economy requires.
I am a practicing engineer with over 45 years of industrial & commercial engineering experience in the design, development and production of electric power generating systems; including solar powered systems.
We, who are involved in engineering this technology, know these solar utilities are not a responsible, nor an economic utilization of our natural resources.
Nor is it a responsible use of prime Ohio Farmland.
Second: Because these solar projects cannot compete with the current reliable electric utility generating systems, these projects are being made financially possible by subsidies from the Federal Government and the State of Ohio.
So, these out-of-state contractors from Texas, Florida, and California are using our tax dollars to benefit themselves with our land and our resources. Yes, we have a right to have a say in how our money is affecting our community.
The real beneficiary of these projects are the investment groups, like Open Road Renewables, LLC (Texas).
Their investors will and do make millions of dollars because these projects are under-written (that is financially guaranteed) by the Federal Government and the State of Ohio.
The Federal Government and the State of Ohio (PILOT PROGRAM) have legislated huge financial subsidies and tax abatements to these developers of solar projects, using the public’s money.
Third: These solar projects are promoted to have a 35–40-year operating life! The solar panels & the electric equipment, along with the solar technology specified in these solar projects, will not endure for 40 years, or even 20 years.
Long before another 15-20 years pass, these solar projects as outlined by Open Roads Renewables and other contractors will become effectively obsolete and financially unsustainable.
These are not 2-year or 6-year farm leases, it’s a 40-year commitment for an unproven product.
The American economy, our technology, and our national political landscape are changing too rapidly and are too unstable for a 40-year development of solar utilities to be a rational business/national decision.
Fourth: If these solar projects are approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board and allowed to go online, it will absolutely contribute to an increase in the cost of electric power in Ohio and our cost of living.
Surely, we have all seen already a significant increase in our electric power bills as the AEPs around Ohio and the country are preparing for this eventuality by expanding their infrastructure and the construction of new transmission lines to accommodate this government mandated diffuse, inefficient, and unreliable solar power grid.
Fifth: These projects will radically diminish the rural character of Ohio’s farming communities forever. And the scars will endure for generations.
So, you ask, why aren’t our federal and state governments protecting us, why aren’t they nurturing solar power development into our society in a responsible, rational way, instead of irresponsibly promoting and supporting these contractors and their siting of solar utilities?
Yes, follow the money.
It is clear that constructing these solar utility projects should be opposed. Opposed on the basis that they are poorly conceived, undependable utility projects.
Opposed because they are dangerous to our rural environment and cannot be sustained on their own without significant government subsidies and the further erosion of our American economy.
Gary Koester PhD
Mount Vernon, Ohio