Nottingham Solar begins work in Harrison County

After earlier disappointment in Harrison County over projects involving a power company, a magnesium plant and a solar facility that appeared to fall through, work has quietly begun on a field in Nottingham Township for the Nottingham Solar project. Information provided to county officials indicates it is not the same company previously discussed.

The issue came to the forefront during the Harrison County commissioners’ March 18 meeting, when Brian Palmer and Nick Vendetta of Laborers’ International Union 809 appeared before the board seeking information about the solar project. Palmer said they had received a call about Nottingham Solar and wanted to know whether commissioners had additional details.

“It seems like it’s going to be a go here, pretty quick,” Palmer told the board. “We had a union contractor that was going to do the dirt work here.”

Palmer said he was later told Nottingham Solar had changed course and was using another contractor for that work. He said he was unsure whether workers from outside the area would be brought in. Commissioner Amy Norris said the board would look into the matter because it had no information at that time.

“One hundred and forty million dollar job,” Palmer said. “It should be starting here in the next couple weeks.”

Commissioner Dustin Corder said the project began before he took office but acknowledged he had seen a report indicating the solar company had started work.

“We have not heard from or talked to them in quite a while,” Corder said.

When asked whether this was the same solar company previously mentioned alongside the power and magnesium projects several years ago, Corder said it was a different company. He said the project is being developed along Ohio 519 between U.S. 22 and U.S. 9.

Corder took Palmer and Vendetta’s information and said commissioners would try to determine whom to contact within the company. In a later phone conversation, Vendetta said tree clearing had already begun, though for now the site remains an empty field.

In a letter obtained from the board and dated Feb. 18, Energix Renewables, the company performing the work, said it intended to begin construction around Feb. 24 on a 100-megawatt solar-powered electric generation facility. The company expected the clearing work to be completed by the end of March.

The letter stated that two months of work would begin at the end of March and would include “installation of the erosion and sediment control measures and installing access roads throughout the site.”

Additional work will proceed in stages and include installation of facility equipment such as trackers, modules, collection systems and inverters.

“As portions of the site are completed, the temporary lay down areas will be restored and stabilized with vegetation,” the letter said. It was signed by Harshal Devani, project manager for Energix.

Devani also said general work activity would be limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Messages left for Devani by phone and email were not returned.