Business could trump state politics as national corporations shun Ohio's coal-heavy utilities and demand power generated by wind and solar.
Wind turbines erected by Iberdrola Renewables as part of the Blue Creek Wind Farm in Van Wert, County in northwest Ohio are generating money for schools and farmers as well as electricity. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The construction of "wind farms" in Ohio's rural regions was supposed to generate millions of dollars in new taxes for schools and a new cash crop in the form of lease payments to farms.
But those developments were derailed a year ago when Republican lawmakers slipped last-minute language into a budget bill limiting how close turbines could be to adjacent properties. Gov. John Kasich ignored pressure from the wind industry to delete the new setback rules.
That language, which followed months of public bickering about unrelated state energy efficiency rules, has stymied the construction of 11 already-approved wind farms in eight counties with a projected construction cost of $2.7 billion.
It has also become another obstacle for Jobs Ohio, the development company charged with bringing new business and industry to the Buckeye State. Jobs Ohio has been working to attract major Internet-related corporations, including Amazon and Facebook, which are building data centers and want to power them with electricity from wind farms.
The wind farms already approved but which have not been built could be generating more than 1,400 megawatts of new power, according to Ohio Power Siting Board records.
According to the industry, the wind farms would also be paying $13 million to rural school districts and $10 million in lease payments to farmers.
Two counties, Van Wert and Paulding in northwest Ohio, saw the boom first-hand. The initial construction of wind farms in Van Wert by Iberdrola Renewables created a two-year business boom, a boom that by now would have spread to six other rural, agricultural counties.
Susan Monroe, president and CEO of the Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Blue Creek wind farm in that county added about $25 million in extra hotel, motel, restaurant and even auto dealer business.
Estimates provided by the American Wind Energy Association -- and available to Ohio lawmakers - are that there are $7 billion in Ohio wind farm projects now under review by regional high-voltage grid manager PJM Interconnection.
Those wind farms, if built, would account for 8 million hours of construction labor jobs and create 225 permanent jobs.
They would generate $34 million annually in local taxes and $27 million in lease payments to farmers.
Jeff Snyder, superintendent of Lincolnview School District in Van Wert County, calls the impact of the wind farms in the 120-square-mile district "a huge success."
"We received over $400,000 the second year of our 20-years [contract]. We have already jumped into providing every student in our district a one-to-one computer, a laptop or tablet. It has been a huge change, a positive to our kids.
"Without this windmill project and payment, we would never have been able to do that," he said.
A third wind farm, which would add another $600,000 annually to Lincolnview's tax base, is one of those projects hung up by the new setback rules.
All told, proposed Ohio wind farms under review at PJM would add a total generating capacity of 3,665 megawatts in Ohio, the equivalent of roughly three Perry nuclear power plants. (Of course, they would not be generating power 24 hours a day.)
Now lawmakers from northwest Ohio are proposing legislation that would end the log jam. House Bill 190 would give county commissioners the authority to revert to the former setback rules.
The wind industry is championing the bill as a return to local control.
The legislative effort, with full support of the industry, comes at time when Ohio is under pressure from national corporations demanding electricity generated by renewable technology.
The state is trying to court a number of Internet-based companies interested in building huge data centers in the state -- data centers that require enormous amounts of electricity.
Internet retailer Amazon has been mum on how it will power its proposed Ohio data center announced a week ago. Appearing at a news conference with Gov. Kasich, Amazon's Paul Meisner, vice president of global public policy, did not face questions regarding electricity because Kasich did not allow any questions.
But Amazon Web Services has made it clear that its goal nationally is to use 100 percent renewable energy. Amazon is actually a little behind other big Internet companies such as Facebook that have already hit their goals.
Amazon in January signed a 13-year contract to buy power from a new wind farm in Indiana capable of generating 150 megawatts, power that could have been generated in Ohio.