'Withdrawing its application': Chestnut pauses bid to build solar farm in Marion County

The company that wanted to build a commercial solar farm in Marion County has paused its eight-year-long campaign.

They may try again in the future, according to a notice filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board last week by Devan Flahive, attorney for Clean Shift Energy, the parent company of the proposed project.

"Chestnut Solar, LLC, hereby gives the board notice that it is withdrawing its application subject to the right to refile a future application for the same or a similar project," Flahive's notice of application withdrawal, dated May 15, reads.

An adjudicatory hearing on the matter that had been scheduled for Monday night was canceled last week by an Ohio Power Siting Board judge.

Adjudicatory hearing would have decided Chestnut Solar's fate

The second of two formal proceedings to decide the project's fate had been slated for Monday evening.

Monday's event had been planned as an adjudicatory hearing, and would have proceeded in a legal manner similar to a courthouse trial. That hearing would have decided whether or not the Chestnut Solar project would have been allowed to be built.

The Ohio Power Siting Board had arranged for two administrative law judges, Jay Agranoff and Isabel Marcelletti, to preside over the adjudicatory hearing.

After Flahive filed to withdraw Chestnut's application, Marcelletti entered an order on May 16 that "cancels the adjudicatory hearing scheduled for May 20, 2024, pending the board's consideration of applicant's notice of withdrawal."

Marion residents opposed solar farm during April public hearing

National Renewable Energy Corp., based in North Carolina, began concept work for the solar farm in 2016.

The solar facility would have taken up 404 acres in eastern Pleasant Township and would have had the capacity to produce up to 68 megawatts of electricity for as many as 45 years.

According to a map of the proposed site, the facility's borders would have been Somerlot Hoffman Road to the north, Newmans Cardington Road to the south, Maple Grove Road to the west and U.S. Route 23 to the east.

In early March 2023, Chestnut Solar field an application with the power siting board for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need to construct and operate a solar-powered electric generation facility in Pleasant Township, which is on the south side of the city of Marion.

The project had progressed for more than a year until April 29 when nearly 150 Marion residents spoke out against the proposal during a public hearing facilitated by the power siting board.

Resident comments then were focused on health, financial and environmental concerns with the construction, installation and maintenance of the solar arrays.

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