The recent wave of 100MW+ solar installations approved for construction in Ohio keeps on rolling, as regulators have voted to approve Acciona subsidiary AEUG Union Solar’s application to construct the Union Solar facility.
The Union Solar facility will be a 325MW installation set to be constructed on 2,013 acres within a 3,355-acre project area in Washington and York townships, just south of Dayton. The solar farm, which will use tier-one modules on trackers, is expected to begin construction later this year, with construction finishing and operations commencing in 2023.
The project represents an estimated $320M investment that will create more than 300 local jobs at peak construction. It will create an estimated 12 to 14 full-time jobs during operation. Union Solar is one entry included in a portfolio of solar farms being developed in a relationship between ACCIONA and Tenaska.
Union Solar now checks in as the third-largest project to be proposed during the development boom that has hit Ohio in the last two years, just behind Open Road Renewables’ 350MW Harvey Solar Project. The largest project proposed during the boom is the 577 MW Fox Squirrel Solar project, which will occupy approximately 3,444 acres within a 3,766-acre area located in Madison County, west of Columbus. Fox Squirrel Solar is being developed by EDF Renewables and its 577 MW of capacity ties it with OCI’s multisite Alamo project in San Antonio as the 5th-largest American solar project known to pv magazine.
With all of the recently-approved, massive projects, Ohio is beginning to establish itself as one of the hottest markets for utility-scale solar development. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Ohio is expected to install 4,630MW of solar over the next 5 years, which ranks as seventh-most across the country over that period.
