Solar farm construction to create jobs

CUMBERLAND, Ohio - Construction of a solar farm on a former strip mine next to The Wilds is expected to create up to 600 jobs in Ohio.
Building the 49.9-megawatt farm, dubbed the Turning Point Solar project, is expected to require approximately 300 jobs during peak construction.
An additional 300 permanent jobs are expected as the two Spanish companies manufacturing components for the venture plan to locate their North American operations in Ohio, according to a release from Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's office.
Although the solar farm will be in Muskingum County, officials in surrounding counties are excited about the prospects.
"The location of the panels are actually going to be closer to Caldwell than Zanesville," said Scott Braden, president of the Noble County Community Improvement Corporation. "I'm sure that a lot of those jobs are going to spill over regionally, and Noble County should be able to (benefit from) some of those jobs."
Braden was in Columbus recently for signing ceremonies in the governor's cabinet room, during which American Electric Power CEO Michael Morris inked a memorandum of understanding to purchase power from the facility for 20 years to help fulfill state minimums for renewable energy.
Spain-based Prius Energy S.L. and Isofoton have agreed, pending approval of incentives by state and local governments, to open new manufacturing facilities in Ohio to help construct the 239,400 solar panels for the array. Their locations have not been determined, but Braden and other local leaders are already targeting them for Southeast Ohio as well.
"We're going to work aggressively and try to start communication with them to let them know there is a facility ready in Noble County," he said.
Braden was referring to the former MAHLE facility in Caldwell. At one time the largest employer in Noble County, the site was closed in 2009. Since then, the corporation has worked to acquire the 233,601-square-foot facility for development as a green manufacturing incubator site.
In a statement, state Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, applauded the announcement but noted "our work is not done."
"I look forward to working with the state as these companies consider sites in southeast Ohio," she said.
Bill Hutchinson, business manager for Parkersburg-Marietta Building Trades, said the announcement is good news for the region.
"Many of the locals are still running with several people unemployed," he said, noting other workers are having to travel out of the area for work.
The release from Strickland's office pointed to recent efforts by state government to help make the project possible, including an executive order by the governor that eliminated tangible personal property tax and real property tax for advanced and renewable energy project facilities. In 2008, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 221, which called for 25 percent of energy consumed by Ohioans to come from "advanced energy" sources by 2025. Of that, 0.5 percent must be solar energy, the release says.
"We recognized the future when we established our state's aggressive renewable portfolio standard, invested in the energy industry and eliminated taxes for new energy facilities to create jobs and grow Ohio's advanced energy industry," Strickland said in the release. "Today, the future has recognized Ohio."
A release from U.S. Rep. Zack Space, D-Ohio, said the congressman worked with Strickland's office and the U.S. secretary of agriculture to attract the project, and brought the parties together that facilitated the investment.
"This project is part of my all-of-the-above energy strategy to invest in new technologies across the energy spectrum, including the abundant coal that God has blessed us with," Space said in the release. "This kind of private-sector investment is exactly what we need to get out of our economic troubles."
State Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Ohio, said the project sounds promising, but he questioned the timing of the announcement, with less than a month left until an election in which polls show Strickland trailing Republican challenger John Kasich - albeit by a tightening margin.
"I guess just in time for (the) election isn't it," Stewart said.
Still, Stewart noted he supported SB 221 and he's happy to hear about the jobs.
"I'm certainly glad that it's coming to our region, and I'm proud to have been a part of some of the legislation that... has helped enable some opportunities for renewable energy in Ohio," he said.
Stewart added that it remains to be seen how the solar power production would compare to traditional coal-fired power plants in terms of cost per kilowatt hour.
According to the governor's release, the solar farm will be located on a tract of at least 500 acres of reclaimed land mined between 1969 and 1991 by the Central Ohio Coal Company. The Wilds, a wildlife conservation park featuring animals from around the world, was developed on 10,000 acres of strip-mined land.
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