The 800-megawatt solar farm will have two 3.5-mile-long transmission lines. It will also be paired with a 300-megawatt hour battery energy storage facility. Kansas City-based Savion, a Shell Group subsidiary, is Oak Run’s developer.
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Nearly 90 per cent of Madison County is designated as farmland, and Oak Run has faced a lot of local opposition. So as part of the approval conditions, Oak Run will graze at least 1,000 sheep and grow crops on 2,000 acres after the first year of operation. Within eight years of operation, at least 70 per cent of the farmable project area, or at least 4,000 acres, will include agrivoltaics.
More than a thousand construction jobs
That will make it the largest agrivoltaics project in the US. According to the Ohio Power Siting Board, it will also be a first-of-its-kind utility-scale solar energy plan for livestock grazing and row crops.
Oak Run will generate 7.2 million US dollars in revenue annually for the county and will create 1,500 union construction jobs. (mfo)
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