At the July 15 meeting of the Miami Township Trustees, Texas-based Vesper Energy identified a potential 10,000-acre swath of land for a new utility-scale solar project. (Submitted photo)
Vesper Energy identifies potential land for utility-scale solar
- Published: August 9, 2024
At the July 15 meeting of the Miami Township Trustees, representatives from Texas-based solar company Vesper Energy gave an update on a new utility-scale solar project proposed to be sited partially in Miami Township.
The proposed project, called the Aviation Energy Center, was initially announced locally at a December meeting of the trustees. The project was presented at that meeting by Vesper Energy Development Manager Hannah Larkin and Community Affairs Manager Lindsey Workman.
In December, Larkin and Workman said that Vesper Energy currently has an interconnection agreement in place with regional electric power transmission system operator PJM that would allow for up to 175 megawatts to be “injected into the grid locally,” though they added at the time that the size and location of the Aviation Energy Center had yet to be determined.
At the July 15 meeting, Larkin and Workman gave an update on the proposed project, stating that Vesper Energy has located a potential 10,000-acre swath of land along the existing Clark-Greene 138 kV electric transmission line where the Aviation Energy Center could be sited. They added that 3,500 acres of that land are located in the northeast corner of Miami Township, east of U.S. 68 and north of S.R. 343, where both roads intersect.
Larkin later clarified that Vesper Energy would likely pursue no more than 2,000 acres of this identified land for potential lease agreements, and that a smaller portion of those 2,000 acres would likely constitute the proposed project if it moves ahead.
As yet, Vesper Energy has not filed any paperwork with the Ohio Power Siting Board — the state agency that approves or denies utility-scale solar projects — with regard to the Aviation Energy Center, and no lease agreements have been signed. However, Larkin said, initial probes into interest from area landowners seems positive.
“We’ve made some cold calls … to landowners to gauge their interest, and we have gotten some positive responses,” she said. “So there is seemingly a general interest in the area — enough that we could begin a land campaign if there’s buy-in.”
Larkin and Workman said the land in question was identified following a “meet-and-greet” series of events Vesper Energy held in Clark and Greene counties. The series was held in order to collect feedback from residents about their concerns regarding the potential utility-scale solar project. The land, they said, meets several criteria suggested by community members with whom they spoke.
The greatest local concerns the company heard, Larkin said, were about maintaining the “aesthetic character of the community,” minimizing the use of prime farmland in the area, and the fact that the proposed project was, at the time, “too conceptual,” with “not enough information for people to feel like they could give tangible feedback.”
Another concern, Larkin said, was that the proposed project maintains a “baseline soil quality,” though she said those concerns were based on “a lot of misinformation that has deeply penetrated this community related to the toxicity of solar panels.”
Workman added that adequate setbacks from homes, roads and natural resources near the proposed project are also a local concern, and said that Vesper Energy has committed to 300- to 500-foot setbacks from any road, home, public land or public waterway.
The News will continue to follow the proposed Aviation Energy Center as the project develops.
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