Why Not Youngstown? Solar project excites Newark, Ohio

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Solar project excites Newark
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Collector field promoted as big boost to city
Sunday, March 27, 2011  03:16 AM
By Josh Jarman

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

NEWARK, Ohio - The city has been here before.

Poised on the edge of big dreams, Newark has long sought a knockout development that would put it back on the map as a business leader in central Ohio.

While other developments, such as a large ethanol-refining plant and a rumored training facility for the Columbus Crew, never came to pass, city leaders think they have a lot to feel good about in a proposed solar-collector field on the eastern edge of the city.

Announced last week as part of Mayor Bob Diebold's initiatives to bring the city into the future, the mayor and his staff expect to sign a purchase agreement this year with an alternative-energy developer to make the project a reality.

The project, which will feature a 24- to 40-acre array of solar-power collectors, would be built on an old manufacturing site that left behind a barren landscape of soil shot through with heavy metals and other pollutants.

The city bought the property for about $96,000 in back taxes, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency paid more than $2.5 million to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stabilize the nearby riverbank to keep the contaminated soil from washing into the Licking River.

The next phase, a more than $2 million project to be paid for by a grant from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund, will cap and contain the pollution and prevent it from entering groundwater. That work is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.

Mike Dickman, vice president of SolarVision, a Westerville-based solar development firm, said finding investors for the project should not be difficult, especially if it can be completed by the end of the year to capture federal tax incentives.

He said the most difficult part of developing a solar project is the financing, which is a balancing act of matching investors with the tax credits and incentives that make it profitable.

He said he expects the Newark site to be sought after because if its size and the ability to lock in the city as a long-term customer. He estimated that a solar array the size of Newark's could generate between four to six megawatts, or enough to power thousands of homes and businesses.

The upfront cost to build it would range from $18 million to $36 million, depending on the type of solar panels and the final size of the project, which is why capturing incentives and tax credits is so important.

Amy Alduino, brownfield coordinator for the Ohio Department of Development, which administered the grant, said the department got behind the project because it will allow the city to transform itself from a former manufacturing center into a renewable-energy provider that could lure new business to the area with the promise of "green" energy.

Kim Burton, Newark's new development director, said the shadow of past failures will not keep the city from capitalizing on this opportunity. She said dust-covered binders in her office speak to the stalled dreams of the ethanol plant, whose investor pulled the plug after almost a year, and the soccer facility that is still searching for a home, but this project already has several companies competing to make it real.

Burton said she has been fielding calls from across the state from investors who want to bid on the project, but she is moving cautiously to make sure any deal is the best fit for Newark.

She said the project can both boost the city's economy and help improve its image. And she said this project is no pipe dream.

"Oh yeah, it's going to happen," Burton said.