YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A prominent oil and gas midstream company has proposed constructing a 22-megawatt solar energy array to power its Kensington natural gas processing plant in Columbiana County.
Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Companies, whose subsidiary, Williams Solar Holdco LLC is spearheading the effort, said the project is intended to reduce its emissions output and lower energy costs.
“Williams is evaluating the possibility of building a solar generation project in Columbiana County,” a spokesperson from the company said. “If executed, this project will help minimize Williams’ emissions footprint and reduce energy costs by shifting electricity usage from on-peak periods to off-peak periods.”
According to documents filed with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the plan calls for building the new solar complex on 99 acres the company owns along Tunnel Hill Road, directly east of its Kensington processing plant in Hanover Township.
The project is part of a larger solar initiative that Williams launched in 2020 that calls for developing solar facilities that generate electricity directly for its midstream processing plants. In addition to Ohio, the company has identified potential sites in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
“They’re looking at starting to clear trees in March,” said John Zehentbauer, Hanover Township trustee, per a conversation via video he and other trustees had with Williams’ project executives during a trustees meeting last week. He said the company expects to complete the installation and required infrastructure by the end of 2025.
Zehentbauer said that the project does not require approval from the Ohio Power Siting Board because the energy produced by the solar installation would be specifically dedicated to the plant and not for commercial sale.
“It’s going to be for their own use,” he said.
Zehentbauer said the installation would produce 22.3 megawatts. That is essentially enough electricity to power, on average, 16,500 homes, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
The company plans to come before Columbiana County officials with a proposed Road Use Maintenance Agreement, or RUMA, Zehentbauer said. These are agreements between local governments and private energy developers regarding the maintenance of roadways damaged or impacted by energy projects.
According to OEPA filings, Williams stated the solar complex would also include access roads, equipment pads, utility lines, inverters, fencing and “vegetation stabilization.” A proposed site map of the project shows plans to install solar arrays at the north, west, east and southwest sections of the development.
Williams’ solar initiative can also move forward despite a ban on large solar and wind farms that the Board of Columbiana County Commissioners enacted across all 18 townships in 2023, since it would be considered a private-use project.
Residents and local government entities have in the past rejected attempts to develop solar projects across Columbiana County.
In 2021, Canadian firm Kensington Solar announced plans to develop a 135-megawatt solar farm on approximately 1,000 acres in Franklin Township. The proposal was met with widespread opposition.
Residents, county commissioners, the Franklin Township Board of Trustees, the Columbiana Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors and the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown all filed motions to intervene and oppose the project.
In September, the Ohio Power Siting Board approved Kensington Solar’s request to withdraw its application. Since the application was dismissed without prejudice, the company could refile its application. Those projects that were underway before the ban was in place are grandfathered, according to state law that allows communities to enact bans on solar or wind developments.
Zehentbauer said there hasn’t been a significant outcry against the project so far. Some neighbors, he added, have shrugged it off, noting that the project supports the oil and gas industry and many of these landowners have producing wells on their property.
“Other people will probably be mad,” he said. “There are others who just hate solar.”
The Kensington facility is a cryogenic plant in southern Columbiana County that was constructed in 2014 as energy companies descended on eastern Ohio to tap into the Utica/Point Pleasant shale formation.
Kensington’s operation is essential to natural gas processing in this part of Ohio. Natural gas produced from the region’s wells are pumped into large towers at the site, where it is chilled to 150 degrees below zero. This process forces heavier molecules to sink and liquefy, while lighter gas such as methane is distributed into the pipeline system.
The liquid gas is then shipped via pipeline to another fractionation plant in Harrison County, where it is converted into specific products such as ethane, butane and propane.
Zehentbauer said Williams would contact township officials with further details as the project moves ahead. “I just want people to know first,” he said.
Pictured at top: The natural gas processing plant in Columbiana County.