Solar field proponents talk about the benefits of the potential Eastern Cottontail project

• Those who favor Eastern Cottontail Solar project says it will benefit the local area
• Ohio Chamber of Commerce talks about economic benefits or proposed project

LANCASTER −The issue of building solar fields on farmland in Ohio is certainly a controversial one. Some love the idea and some hate it.

The issue has now come to Fairfield County, as Eastern Cottontail Solar LLC wants to build a 220-megawatt solar field on 1,550 acres near Ohio 188 and Ohio 256 in Walnut Township. Ohio Power Siting Board spokesman Matt Butler previously said companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google and data centers are often customers of solar energy providers.

The Eastern Cottontail Perspective

Should the siting board give it’s approval for the local solar field, what would the local advantages be?

Nicholas Lucania is a regional project development manager for EDF Renewables, the company undertaking the Eastern Cottontail project.

He said there are economic, agricultural, clean energy and national security advantages to solar energy. Lucania said the latter being that solar energy provides energy produced at home instead of overseas.

Lucania said solar projects can bring millions of dollars in tax revenue to the local economy. He also said solar fields don’t displace farmland, but that they actually preserve farmland.

Lucania said solar energy is reliable and consistent.

On the local front, he said the Walnut Township project will provide about 500 good-paying jobs and about 270 indirect jobs like in the supply chain and raw materials sector.

“A project like Eastern Cottontail will generate about $2 million a year in tax revenue,” Lucania said. “That will be allocated to both Walnut Township and as well as to the county level. It will be supplementing or benefiting a multitude of social services for things like schools, police and fire and just a variety of community services like parks, libraries, senior support, veteran support and things of that nature.”

Citing the Fairfield County commissioners’ comprehensive plan from last year, Lucania said the county will experience growth as a spill over from the expected growth in the Columbus area. He said Eastern Cottontail satisfies the needs mentioned in the report.

Lucania said the project will also benefit local agriculture.

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Perspective

Ohio Chamber of Commerce general counsel and director of energy and environmental policy Tony Long said it’s always helpful to have more power generation in a state.

“As we know, these projects will continue to develop more storage capability as well, so that you can start to dispatch the power at times when the power outside of when it’s actually generated,” he said. “I think having these types of generation assets are important for the state of Ohio in general, in terms of the economic output, obviously, for the region.”

Long said that is partly because of the labor needed to build a solar field.

“Then you’ll have a few people that will stay put for the operation and maintenance of the facility,” he said.

Long said another economic benefit is money going to schools, emergency services and more.

“So there’s money that will flow in as payment in lieu of taxes to a community,” he said. “On top of which it’s an opportunity for the land owner to develop a land in the way they see fit. As a private property owner, this is how they want to, in a sense, I think preserve their farmland. Once the de-commissioning is done, then you can go right back to farming if the next generation wants to continue farming.”

Therefore, Long said he thinks there are a lot of positives to solar fields.

But that doesn’t change that fact that there are still those opposed to solar fields in Fairfield County.

“I would say to give it a chance,” Long said to them. “Go talk to the folks down in areas of the state that already have operational solar facilities and find out if any of the fears that they are showing in their negativity to this project bear out in places like Ross County, Madison County, where projects are up and running, generating power and producing the economic benefit promised in their applications.”

A Property Owner’s Perspective

Liberty Township residents Betsy and Dan Alt signed a 30-year lease agreement with Eastern Cottontail to install a solar array on their property.

“If you know anything about farming, the first thing is you’re never guaranteed an income,” Betsy Alt said. “Never. And this is a guaranteed income for at least 30 years. So that was a pretty major plus.”

Dan Alt called the Eastern Cottontail plan “a great project.”

Betsy Alt said her land will be seeded into a grass, clover and forb mixture, so it will lie fallow for more than 30 years and said that will be good for the environment and her property.

“We’re pleased to be part of something that’s going to generate electricity just by harvesting the sun,” Betsy Alt said. “If you think of it, that’s all a farmer does, is harvest sunlight in everything we do. And we know growth is coming to central Ohio. I’ve always believed you can either stand in front of it and get run over or you can be part of it. So we’ve chosen to be part of it.”

For those opposed to the Eastern Cottontail project, she urged them “to take a deep breath and see.”

“If they’ve ever toured a solar field, I think they’d be amazed at the absolute silence and the careful screening,” Betsy Alt said. “I truly believe there are people that will choose to live surrounded by a solar field rather than a neighbor and his leaf blower and his kids screaming and dogs barking. I think it’s fear of what they don’t know.”

Betsy Alt said she and her husband would not be adverse to being surrounded by a solar field. She compared the controversy to when telephone poles first came about.

“People went crazy,” she said. “They set them on fire, they cut them down. Same thing when the railroads came through. Anything new, people are adverse to. I know when the first cell towers went up, I was so angry having to see them outside of my kitchen window. I don’t see them anymore. I don’t see them, I don’t think about them. They’re there, but you can adapt.”

Betsy Alt said it was never her intention to hurt anyone or upset people.

“We truly believed everybody would be excited by this,” she said. “Which I guess shows some naivete on our part. We did not expect this.”

To find more information about the proposed Eastern Cottontail project, log onto opsb.ohio.gov/cases/24-0495-el-bgn.