If Ohio House Bill 450 passes, Huntsburg Township Trustees plan for their residents to be among the first in Geauga County to benefit from it.
If Ohio House Bill 450 passes, Huntsburg Township Trustees plan for their residents to be among the first in Geauga County to benefit from it.
During a special meeting Aug. 24, trustees signed a lease with TJA Clean Energy LLC of New Bedford, Mass. If HB 450, now in committee, is passed, TJA will transform 50 acres of township land from producing corn and soy beans to producing energy.
The field that essentially surrounds the township maintenance department yard on Mayfield Road is currently leased to a farmer, said Trustee Nancy Saunders in a phone interview Aug. 25, adding the agreement allows the property to be farmed until development of the community energy system begins in two to four years.
The key to using the township’s acreage for the many 6-foot-by-3-foot panels is the Illuminating Company’s substation across Mayfield Road, she said.
Once the project is completed and producing solar power, the township will begin receiving up to $60,000 per year, depending on how much power is generated, said Daniel Frateschi, who manages TJA’s business development.
During the meeting, he said the field will produce between five and 10 megawatts of energy and residents will also receive a discount of up to 10% on their electric bills.
“A lot of people want solar (power), but they don’t want to put panels on their house. This is a way to participate,” he said.
While he said he doesn’t expect solar power to meet all the needs of the community, Frateschi said community energy will be a good way to supplement the supply.
“If we are going to be switching to electric cars as fast as they say we are, we are going to need more electricity. We want to work with the community. This is the way of the future,” he said
TJA already has solar fields in the state of New York and must limit each solar field’s size to 25 acres because the legislature put a cap of five megawatts per project, Frateschi said.
“Ohio may go to 10 megawatts,” which means community solar projects can be developed on up to 50 acres, he said.
He estimated development of the Huntsburg property will cost $8 million or more.
The agreement with the township details fencing around the acreage with landscaping designed to screen the panels from the public, Frateschi said, adding one possibility would be to use pollinator plants so bees will be more plentiful, benefiting agriculture. TJA will be responsible for maintenance of the property, he said.
The 25-year contract allows for two five-year renewals and includes a decommissioning clause to bring the land back to farmland, Frateschi said.
“We are in an ideal location. It all depends on the legislature passing the law. This way, we are on the cutting edge,” Saunders said, adding township voters have refused to pass levies to support the services trustees are required to provide, so the additional funds are needed.
Frateschi said residents will receive letters to sign up for the lower electric rate.
During a separate phone conversation, Mike Frateschi, RJA president and engineer, said five or 10 megawatt hours is the maximum output at any given minute from the solar panel field to the substation.
The panels have the ability to revolve, which addresses concerns of snow on the panels slowing production, he said.
They rotate to follow the sun and, in doing so, the snow tends to melt or slide off — called snow soiling — and increases production, he said.
If the law is passed and the project gets the green light, a preliminary analysis will inform TJA how it needs to comply with local, state and federal laws if there are endangered species or wetlands on the site.
“We’ve done a few of these projects in New York and Massachusetts,” and reached into Pennsylvania, he said.
The legislation, introduced in 2021, is still in committee because the redistricting issues have pushed many such items back, but he said he believes it will be brought forward in the first quarter of 2023.
Saunders said the township received letters from TJA and two other groups interested in gaining access to the 50 acres, but the other two were unresponsive to calls, so TJA is first in line for access.
She credited Trustee Richard Judd with making the enquiries and taking the first steps to work with TJA.
“We have to be able to have alternative energy. We’re not against natural gas or coal, but we need to broaden our scope,” she said, adding there are more than 200 gas wells in Huntsburg Township, but they are not producing as well as in the past.
Retired U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Robert F. Schields from Bay Village supported HB 450 in a letter to the Ohio Legislature, writing:
“As a member of the steering committee of Sierra Club Ohio and as its chairman of conservation, I believe that passage of HB 450 is in the long-term economic interest of Ohio, will support a more healthy environment by reducing pollutants that contribute to climate change, and will be a strong supporting response to our armed forces’ identifying climate change as a national security risk.”
