Ohio Supreme Court dismisses Kingwood Solar appeal

The road to building a 175 MW 1,200 acre solar development project in Greene County just became a bit longer for Vesper Energy, the company behind the project.  On September 6, the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the company’s appeal of a ruling by the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) that denied a certificate of approval for the project.  The Supreme Court dismissed the case for “lack of jurisdiction.”

The Ohio Power Siting Board denied the Kingwood Solar application last December on grounds that the project would not serve the “public interest, convenience, and necessity” due to general opposition from the community, and especially the clear opposition of the Greene County commissioners and the three townships where the project would locate.  As permitted by Ohio law, Kingwood Solar and several other parties to the case requested a rehearing on the OPSB’s decision. 

The OPSB granted the rehearing request on Feb. 7 “for the purpose of affording more time to consider the issues raised.”  However, Kingwood Solar appealed the board’s decision, stating that the OPSB failed to issue its decision on the rehearing request within the thirty days required by Ohio Revised Code 4903.10.  Kingwood Solar raised ten arguments against the OPSB’s denial of the project, asking the Ohio Supreme Court to declare that denial to be “unlawful or unreasonable.”

The OPSB asked the Court to dismiss the Kingwood appeal, arguing that until the OPSB issued a decision on the rehearing, the Court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.  The Supreme Court granted the OPSB’s motion to dismiss.  The Court did not issue a full opinion in support of its decision to dismiss the case, but referred to a 1988 Ohio Supreme Court opinion holding that the Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction over a case while a rehearing request is pending with the OPSB,

What does the dismissal mean for Kingwood Solar?  Vesper Energy must now wait for the OPSB to make a decision on the rehearing requests.  The OPSB could affirm its earlier decision to deny the permit or could reverse that decision.  Currently, the OPSB has not scheduled a new hearing for the application.

Follow the Kingwood Solar application on the OPSB website.