Rooftop solar installed on the barn of an Ohio farm by residential and commercial installer Third Sun Solar.
We applaud The Columbus Dispatch for recognizing the benefits of solar. Ohio should complete the reorganization of its power market to allow full retail competition. Consumers deserve a greater voice in choosing their energy supplier.
From The Columbus Dispatch editorial board:
Here’s something to celebrate in this new year: 2021 looks to be the year when development of solar energy finally takes off in Ohio.
At the moment, that still means small numbers: Ohio currently has only about 100 megawatts of utility-scale solar power, for about 0.5% of the state’s total output. So the quadrupling that’s expected by the end of the year still will mean only 2%.
But the trajectory is unmistakable: Adding up all the wattage that could come from projects that are permitted but haven’t started construction yet, plus those that are still in the permit process, eventually could yield more than 4,000 megawatts, or about 14%. And, with more and more businesses demanding power from clean sources, it stands to reason the trend will continue.
Not a bit of this good news is thanks to the Republican-dominated General Assembly, which has been nothing but hostile to clean energy for a decade.
There’s an obvious point to be conceded here: The Dispatch has spilled much ink and many pixels decrying the legislature’s backward stance on clean energy, specifically its refusal to support incentives and mandates that would encourage investment in clean energy. This often has brought pushback from free-market fans who say that government shouldn’t “pick winners” by subsidizing a technology, and that any technology worth pursuing will catch on without government incentives or mandates.
As it turns out, that appears to be happening with solar. Big energy users like Amazon, Facebook and Google, with plans and deadlines for reaching zero carbon emissions, are driving energy companies from American Electric Power to make plans to build utility-scale solar farms in Ohio.
While clean-energy skeptics like to note Ohio’s lack of sunshine compared with other places in the U.S., the Buckeye State apparently makes up for that with abundant land that is flat and inexpensive – ideal for solar arrays.
We’re very glad to see that our backward-looking legislature – whose members prefer to hand out billion-dollar subsidies to aging nuclear and coal plants and remain in thrall to fossil-fuel interests – hasn't managed to quash Ohio’s solar-energy potential completely.
Read the full editorial at The Columbus Dispatch.