This hearing is a chance for the public to give testimony that will become part of the case record considered by state utility regulators. People will get five minutes to testify and their testimony
The utility board has also scheduled a hearing with Kingwood on Dec. 13 in Columbus.
The 175-megawatt Kingwood Solar project would consist of solar panel arrays and associated facilities, including electrical collection lines, inverters, access roads, perimeter fencing, a substation, and a generation interconnect line.
The proposed facility would be located on 1,500 acres in Cedarville, Xenia, and Miami townships, most of which is now farm land.
All three townships have filed notices in which they formally objected to the project, as have the Greene County Commissioners, Citizens for Greene Acres, according to utility board records. The Ohio Farm Bureau also filed an intervention to ensure protections would be in place, but is neither for or against the project.
If approved, Kingwood would operate for 30 years, with a possible 10-year extension, after which the company said it has the ability to restore the land as farmland.
Kingwood has said that the facility could be in a tax program that would generate over $1.5 million in tax revenue for every year of its operation. However, the county commissioners have said that they do not plan to take that option.
Kingwood’s application is among 28 solar utility applications pending before the state utility board.
About the Author
