Both laydown yards and array grading are complete.
The pile installation has been ongoing for the last few months.
Oh, and the permanent fence installation will start soon.
In other words, roughly a year after
we first checked in with Charlottesville, Virginia-based
Apex Clean Energy, the company behind the then-yet-to-get-going
Wheatsborough Solar project in southwest Erie County, construction is well underway on the solar farm.
“The project is on track to begin commercial operation by this fall,” says Natasha Montague, Apex's senior community relations manager, in an email response to a series of questions sent to her.
According to the information Montague provided, Wheatsborough will be a 125-megawatt beast producing “enough clean power to meet the equivalent of the energy needs of about 23,800 U.S. homes.”
To bring it to its energy-generating life, about 50 workers are on site these days, with Apex anticipating more than 250 workers on the property’s 600-plus acres in Groton Township during peak construction time, Montague says.
“Once the project becomes operational,” she adds, “it will support two full-time staff on-site and additional contractors to support maintenance and vegetation management.”
Hiring locally is a priority for the company, she says, which is represented in a commitment to a workforce consisting of 70 percent Ohio residents and signed agreements with various labor unions.
“Wheatsborough Solar is a significant investment in Erie County that will create hundreds of local construction-related jobs, as well as long-term operations jobs and contractor needs throughout the project's life,” Montague says.
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About 50 workers are on site now, with Apex anticipating more than 250 workers on the property’s 600-plus acres in Groton Township during peak construction time. (Photo/Courtesy of Apex Energy)In fact, she says so far Apex says the headcount of workers puts the percentage at 83 percent Ohioans. Contributing to that is a contract with Archibold-based Miller Bros. Const Inc. for “the civil work and post-installation.” Another example is the Conti Corporation, based in Lowellville, which is performing the electrical work and sourcing labor from local union halls, she says.
“Solar farm construction is a specialized process, but it requires common products and services, many of which can be found locally,” Montague says.
Although Scottsdale, Arizona-based DEPCOM Power has been retained as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for Wheatsborough, she says that “Apex will be closely coordinating with them to hire local workers and subcontractors to build the project. Many of these entities could be local. We encourage local contractors to sign up with our
Local Vendor Program, to ensure company names and contact information will be provided to the primary contractor.”
She also provided
a list of services needed for building a solar farm.
Another anticipated economic benefit is the new tax revenue generated, with Montague putting the figure at more than $35 million over the next 30 years, meaning more than $1 million annually for the township and the county.
And, of course, generating solar power is considered to be less harmful to the environment than some older methods.
“Wheatsborough Solar will avoid impacts on sensitive environmental and cultural resources and, at the same time, will provide a great benefit by displacing over 20,000 tons of (CO2), equivalent to the amount displaced by 217,557 acres of U.S. forests,” Montague says.
“Wheatsborough Solar will also donate $125,000 through the
Apex Conservation Grant Program to support local or regional wildlife conservation, reforestation, flora restoration, water quality restoration or other conservation projects in or near the project community. We are actively looking for non-governmental organizations to partner with for the Apex Conservation Grant, hoping to bring the best conservation project to the community.”
Lastly, in January, Apex announced that Wheatsborough was contracted under the Microsoft–Volt Energy Utility Environmental Justice Framework, which aims “to leverage corporate emmissionality goals to support environmental justice, community, and diversity initiatives,” according to an Apex news release. The partnership between
Volt Energy Utility, a minority-owned solar energy development firm based in Washington, D.C., and Redmond, Washington-based tech giant
Microsoft, supports the latter’s goal to supply 100 percent of its energy needs with renewable energy while modeling a power procurement approach that redirects resources to community-led clean energy and resiliency projects.”
The release adds that the power purchase agreement “prioritizes the equitable distribution of the benefits of the clean energy economy, with a focus on initiatives advancing women and minority leadership and job creation; carbon neutrality; habitat restoration; and end-of-life recycling.” Some of the revenue produced by the PPA will be invested into the Sharing the Power Foundation, which, the release states, focuses on environmental health and economic justice in historically underserved urban and rural communities.
“As Microsoft works toward a more sustainable and equitable future," says Kourtney Nelson, director of renewable energy procurement at Microsoft, in the release, “it’s exciting to see our collaboration with Volt supplying new renewable energy with an organization like Apex.
“As we look to meet our ambitious clean energy goals, it’s critical that we deliver benefits to under-resourced communities — and that’s what this project will do.”
“Developing renewable energy projects that are reliable and sustainable is imperative,” Ken Young, CEO of Apex, adds in the release. “Prioritizing equitable deployment will further elevate our industry’s overall impact,” said Ken Young, CEO of Apex. “Prioritizing equitable deployment will further elevate our industry’s overall impact. This agreement allows Wheatsborough Solar to move beyond the megawatt, creating a lasting impact in the local community and beyond.”
To keep up on the project’s progress, the company posts
bi-weekly construction updates on its website.