By Brett Peveto
Ohio News Connection

COLUMBUS, Ohio – With electric rates up across the state over the past decade, Ohio lawmakers are considering a measure encouraging community-level energy production.

House Bill 303 would allow communities to build small-scale energy facilities up to 10 megawatts, which is enough to power around 2,000 homes. Projects sited on distressed land, or on large commercial or public rooftops, could be built up to 20 megawatts.

The community energy pilot program would allow local businesses and residences to buy into a generation project and receive a credit on their monthly electric bill. Molly Bryden, a climate sustainability researcher with Policy Matters Ohio, said as a net energy importer, the state needs to add capacity to its power grid.

“It’s really important that we are increasing the amount of generation supply we have in the state and identify opportunities to insulate residential customers from the implications of the data center buildout and the strain that they put on our grid and natural resources,” Bryden said.

The bill passed the Ohio House in mid-November and is now under consideration in the Senate.

While more than 20 states have community solar programs, the Ohio pilot program is considered technology-neutral and could be used for renewable energy sources or those that use fossil fuels.

The community-scale projects would be connected at the distribution level, avoiding PJM’s transmission-level interconnection queue. This means they would be approved much faster than other energy projects. If adopted, the program would be capped at 1,500 megawatts across the entire state, with expansion possible only through future legislative action.

Bryden is convinced that adopting this pilot program would strengthen community choice.

“Community energy supports energy choice, and it allows Ohioans to enjoy energy that’s produced locally, creating local jobs, and gives Ohioans more power to decide how and where their energy is produced,” she said.

Opponents argue allowing community-scale projects to bypass the PJM process could raise costs for other ratepayers, though the legislation includes provisions intended to ensure that participating developers and subscribers bear the program’s costs.

Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.