The Dispatch reports on Ohio’s inroads into solar energy:
While Ohio is just beginning to develop solar power, the state is already a leader in manufacturing the components. Companies such as First Solar and Xunlight, both in the Toledo area, produce thin-film photovoltaic panels, a light and flexible material that is helping drive down the cost.
The presence of component manufacturers is what inspired a state law that led to the Wyandot County project. Two years ago, Strickland signed Senate Bill 221, a measure that requires utilities to produce 25 percent of their electricity from so-called advanced sources by 2025.
At the time of passage, Ohio had virtually no utility-scale solar installations.
“Ohio had this core industry growing in northwest Ohio around solar, and it was important to specifically create a requirement for local deployment,” Shanahan said.
Solar power was the only energy source that got its own piece of the pie in the law. Solar must compose 0.5percent of overall electricity by 2025, which translates to roughly 400 megawatts.
Notably, the law applies only to investor-owned utilities, a group that includes American Electric Power, FirstEnergy, Duke Energy and Dayton Power and Light. Rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, such as AMP’s clients, are exempt.
So far, AEP has made the largest investment in meeting the requirement. The Columbus-based utility helped develop the Wyandot project and has a contract to buy all the power produced there. AEP now has enough solar capacity to meet the benchmarks for 2010 through 2012. (AEP and AMP are not affiliated, despite their similar names and the fact that both are based in Columbus.)
