The Times-Gazette: Highland I Solar detailed
Article link: Highland I Solar detailed
March 12, 2025
By Jacob Clary, The Times-Gazette
News on the Highland I Solar Project was delivered at the weekly Wednesday morning meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.
Jared Wren, senior manager of development and stakeholder engagement with Hecate Energy, said that following its reaching commercial operation in May 2024, there will be a final Ohio Power Siting Board process that will sign off on the as-built construction aspect.
Connor Cox, a long-term asset manager with D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI), said the company normally gets involved in the final stages of construction and as projects get into operation and management. He said there are still a few remaining items until SOLV Energy, the company’s management and operations organization, hits final completion. He also said the project has closed the Road Use Maintenance Agreement with the Highland County Engineer.
Maria Smith-Lopez, a development associate with DESRI, said the property tax payments under the payment in lieu of taxes through the Qualified Energy Program (QEP) will be made at a rate of $9,000 per megawatt starting next year. She said the payments don’t begin until next year because the Commercial Operation Date was 2024, meaning the payments start tax year was 2025, with the first payments not due until 2026.
Wren said that, in the interim, the project will be making tax payments on the land until the QEP process begins.
Cox also said that the project is “rather big,” with the 300 megawatts of solar roughly equivalent to taking 136,000 passenger vehicles off the road for a year or 65 million gallons of gas not being consumed.
One final phase of the project that Wren mentioned was a Senate Bill 52-qualified phase that Hecate Energy is calling Nuthatch Solar, which is still being finalized in terms of its footprint. He said it will be “sort of” the final stage of development for the community, saying it will be brought forward after the Ohio Power Siting Board’s 90-day notification process and preliminary meetings before then.
Concerning public questions about the project, Cox said the project has been working closely with the Ohio Power Siting Board on vegetation management on and around the project’s footprint. He said the project hired a different vegetation management vendor, saying they anticipate better management and care of the vegetation around the site. He also said the project is tasked with managing the game fence around the site.
Cox then said, in terms of maintenance on the site, people are on site 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday to fix any issues that might come up, with a control center in San Diego, California, monitoring their sites 24/7 in case anything happens.
In other news, Damon Lucas, Family Recovery Services mobility manager, said that the biggest thing the organization has been working on is the beginnings of its development plan. He said FRS has so far had one meeting, which are attended by around 15 different community members from its three-county footprint, where they try to develop the “next evolution of FRS and transportation in the area.”
He said their aim is to develop a road map that will improve public transit, look at expansion opportunities and identify unmet needs, among other things.
Lucas said that has been helped by a $100,000 investment from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to FRS Transportation, allowing the organization to work with a State of Ohio consulting firm and help it with its goal.
“It’s a pretty big honor that ODOT has entrusted us with a $100,000 grant to have this study and this progress for this work done, so we’re pretty excited about it,” he said.
He said one way the improvements are being looked at is using a transit survey, which will be available at the organization’s website and in its vehicles for current riders to pick up.
Terry Britton, vice chairman of the board of commissioners, said a World Teen Mental Wellness contest was done by the ADAMH Board, which McClain and Whiteoak participated in, as Whiteoak placed third in the contest.
The board of commissioners also approved a Knox Box for the new OSU Extension Office and Record Storage Building by Koorsen.
There were four resolutions approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:
*Res. No. 25-58 is an awarding of the PID 111321 HIG CR Var Pavement Markings FY25 bid to A&A Safety Inc. in the amount of $170,799.77.
*Res. No. 25-59 is an awarding of the PID 111319 HIG-Var-Guardrail FY25 bid to PDK Construction in the amount of $279,572.75.
*Res. No. 25-60 is a request from Highland County JFS for a budget modification within the Family and Children First Fund, 2190, in the amount of $15,000.
*Res. No. 25-61 is a request from Victim Witness for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue in the amount of $11,000.
There were also three contracts approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:
*Contract 13 is between the board of commissioners, the Village of Greenfield and Ohio Public Defender for an Agreement for Greenfield Indigent Defense Service in County Court.
*Contract 14 is between the board of commissioners and Knoblauch Lawn Care for the Mowing and Landscaping 2025 bid.
*Contract 15 is between the board of commissioner, Utility Pipeline Ltd./Pike Natural Gas and the Highland County Engineer for a Real Estate Purchase Agreement.
