Cincinnati Solar Project
One of the largest city-established solar array projects in the nation will soon provide power for the City of Cincinnati and its residents. The New Market Solar project is located east of Cincinnati in Highland County, Ohio. It covers close to 900 acres, about the size of 680 football fields, and consists of more than 310,000 solar panels.
The 100 MW solar array will provide locally produced renewable energy that will reduce the region’s carbon emissions by 158,000 tons annually.
The solar array will be used to generate power for City facilities as well as for residents participating in the City’s electric aggregation program. City facilities will receive power from 35 MW of the array which will cover around 25% of the City’s annual usage. The remaining 65 MW will produce enough power to cover about 8% of total residential electricity usage.
The solar array is being built by a private solar developer and no taxpayer funds were used for its construction. Instead, the City used what is known as a power purchase agreement (PPA) under which it agreed to buy the power generated by the array for the next 20 years. This provides the City with power at a fixed price that will result in cost savings in the future.
The array will help the City save an estimated $1.8 million over the next 20 years and help it reach its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2035.