About 80 acres of earth is being moved to make way for a farm in Wyandot County for a new brand of cash crop: clean, renewable solar energy.
When completed sometime in mid-2010, the $30 million project � adjacent to the Wyandot County Airport � is expected to be one of the largest solar fields east of the Mississippi.
American Electric Power recently inked a 20-year agreement with Wyandot Solar to purchase electricity generated at the 10.08 megawatt farm.
The project counts a few big players. Wyandot Solar, a subsidiary of Germany-based juwi solar will fund construction of the project, including more than needed160,000 solar panels, which will be built by First Solar's nearby Perrysburg operations.
Shelly Clark, a spokesperson at AEP, says excavating for the project is already underway.
"AEP Ohio was heading in the direction of clean energy," she says. "It will help us to continue our growth and to meet our mandates from the state of Ohio."
A major impetus: Last year, the Ohio legislature passed a bill requiring 25 percent of Ohio's energy to come from alternative and renewable sources.
"(We're) working towards the goal of producing electricity where it can be most efficiently produced and moving it to where it is needed the most," Clark says, adding that 1,500 nearby homes and businesses will be the first recipients of the energy.
Using labor from the surrounding area, about 70 construction jobs were created to complete the project. Three permanent positions are expected when the job is done.
Source: Shelly Clark, American Electric Power
Writer: Colin McEwen