Image: State of Ohio
The Ohio Power Siting Board approved an application for a 107 MW solar facility in Fulton County, east of Toledo.
The application was submitted by Arche Energy Project and the installation is being sponsored by 7X Energy. The project would sit on roughly 600 acres and consist of photovoltaic arrays ground-mounted on a tracking rack system; no specific hardware details were available.
Energy generated at Arche Solar would be delivered to an existing substation located adjacent to a 138 kilovolt transmission line. The developers said they are still looking into the possibility of finding a power purchase agreement off-taker for the energy.
The project would boost Ohio’s total installed solar capacity, which currently sits at roughly 503 MW. Like Arche, most solar that has come online in Ohio has been utility scale. Despite the state’s modest start as a solar market, rapid growth is expected, with The Solar Energy Industries Association expecting the addition of 2.35 GW over the next 5 years, good for 12th-most in the nation over that span.
Final project design for Arche are expected to be completed in the third quarter. Construction could begin in the fourth quarter and be completed within 12 months.
