Lettuce growing alongside a Solar panel array. (Photo courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Lab.)
In a room where many held different views, community members found their voices and stood tall. One by one, they stepped forward to speak their truth about protecting our Earth and preserving the farmland that has sustained their families for generations.
– MaryAnn Hubbard, describing the Eastern Cottontail Solar Project hearing in Fairfield County
Despite the fact the scientific community is issuing strenuous warnings that humanity is running out of time to prevent a climate tipping point when deterioration begins spinning out of human control, the process of approving solar farms in Ohio has become bogged down in a debate about loss of farmland.
“Opposition has led developers to drop plans for at least four solar projects in Ohio within 15 months. Nationally, hundreds of renewable energy projects have faced significant opposition across 47 states,” according to an article from Columbia.
But there is a dramatic shift taking place. When it becomes known that such farmland will NOT be lost but rather transformed into a dual use of solar and agriculture by what has become known as “agrivoltaics,” the numbers are becoming stunningly reversed.
An article just reposted in OCJ documents what can only be described as a “game-changer.” At its project in Logan County, Open Road Renewables announced from the get-go that it was going to be based on agrivoltaics. Its wording: “The Grange Solar Grazing Center ….. is a dual-use solar and grazing facility.”
The result has been a remarkable change in comments submitted by the public, with supporters outnumbering the opponents by a four to one margin: “Open Road Renewables reviewed more than 2,500 comments through Feb.11. and found 80% expressed support.”
This finding places the following comment to NBC4 TV by opponents of the Frasier project into an entirely new perspective: “The (global) warming is an issue and we need to work on that, but …. We need to think outside the box, it shouldn’t be on prime farmland.”
Such “thinking outside the box” has already happened in a big way and is rapidly spreading around the world. Agrivoltaics has not only rapidly expanded to over 20 countries, but has now come into Ohio in a major way, bringing significant impact.
In the U.S. there are already over 500 applications of agrivoltaics, with their success now propelling the concept toward a larger scale. Ohio is at a leading edge of that effort. The OSU agriculture school received a 1.6 million grant to research whether agrivoltaics can be scaled up to utility size projects. They are working with the Madison Fields Solar Project in Madison County. Due to its size, it has become one of the largest testing grounds in the country.
Due to its ability to create a win-win with those concerned about loss of farmland, this new direction has been found to increase the chance of a solar project being approved. This became apparent in the Madison Fields project, and amplified even further in the larger Oak Run approval.
The Ohio Power Siting Board went out of its way to actually *require* that: “In its first year of operation, Oak Run must graze at least 1,000 sheep and grow crops on 2,000 acres…. Within eight years of operation, at least 70% of the farmable project area, or at least 4,000 acres, must include agrivoltaics.“
There is no longer any rationale for the polarization that has existed. It is not just a “win-win,” but actually a four way “win-win-win-win.” The community “wins” by receiving substantial funding for schools via a tax arrangement. The land owners “win” by obtaining a major source of income. Those who favor agricultural use of land “win” by having the land stay in food and grazing production. And the whole world plus future generations “win” by having a clean and 100% renewable source of electricity.
The support has now grown to expand beyond the previous partisan political divide. A bill in Congress to promote agrivoltaics as a win-win solution is now being championed by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a conservative Republican of Iowa. With agrivoltaics as an ally, the future has become bright for large scale solar.
The strength of this rapidly spreading concept just became more visible in the recent public hearing about the Eastern Cottontail Solar Project in Fairfield County. The developer — EDF Renewables — wisely shifted its plan to incorporate sheep grazing back in October. Proponents of solar — sometimes outnumbered by those decrying “loss of farmland” at previous hearings — had a very powerful counterpoint. No, the farmland is NOT going to be lost! Let us *together* celebrate and preserve the prime farmland of Ohio!
As exemplified in the opening quote of this commentary, they testified with great confidence and vigor. When a moral concern about the future of humanity becomes combined with a very real solution at the practical level, the result is poignant. In Fairfield County, many were able to integrate both together. If this can continue, I have no doubt the tide will turn for solar in Ohio.
It is worth noting that sometimes the “loss of farmland” concern is genuine, but at other times it has been a manipulative ploy. ProPublica operates at the national level to engage in investigative journalism to advance the public interest. Its outstanding work has earned the highest award of journalism — the Pulitzer Prize.
The idea of wealthy fossil fuel-connected corporations financing campaigns that distort information about clean energy projects in order to eliminate competition was determined by ProPublica to be of national significance. A video news story details the unfortunate effort by fossil fuel interests in Ohio to not only manipulate public hearings with the “loss of farmland” claim but also local media outlets in the ongoing case of the Frasier project in Knox County.
In order to assist the continuation of such efforts as the one in Fairfield County , this writer — who is also a video producer — has created a program about how the emergence of agrivoltaics has dramatically “changed the equation” in Ohio.
The title of that program: “With a Changed National Landscape, Can ‘Agrivoltaics’ — The Co-Existence of Panels and Agriculture on the Same Land — Provide a Path Forward for Solar Energy in Ohio?”
May it prove to be a useful resource that will be shared.