Solar Energy Becoming More Viable in the Buckeye State
According to the Department of Energy, an average household uses 11,040 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which translates to roughly 30 kwh per day. In an area that gets about 4 kwh of sun, such as Ohio, it would take 7.5 square meters of photovoltaic panels to power one house.
There are now 80 acres of solar panels in Wyandot County. The solar project was completed last month and at 12 megawatts, it is currently the largest in the state.
American Municipal Power, a nonprofit utility, announced last month that it will build a plan that's 25 times bigger, to build the capacity of 300 megawatts in a series of projects across several states and over several years.
Here's the remarkable thing: the company has no experience with utility-scale solar projects. Critics will consider them foolish at best, and downright reckless at worst; but those with an imagination can see the long-term potential and perspectives of setting up the solar panels and other infrastructure that will make solar power a reality.
A Maryland company, Standard Energy, would oversee the construction and own the solar adders. The financing would be made possible by AMP's commitment to buy the electricity for its customers.
Solar arrays will be built near the member communities. This provides savings in that many of the solar modules will be manufactured in the state (which also creates green jobs), so there would be little freight cost to get them to the project sites.
Another level of savings come from the short distance between the projects and the end users, saving the cost of transmitting the power.
For more details, read the entire article by Dan Gearino of the Columbus Dispatch.
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