LISBON — The Kensington Solar project application has been dismissed and the case closed, with the Ohio Power Siting Board granting the company’s request to withdraw the application to build a solar facility in Franklin Township.

The application was dismissed Thursday without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled.

Matt Schilling, director, Office of Public Affairs for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and spokesman for the OPSB, confirmed that a developer can come back if they wish and the process would start over.

When asked how and if the ban on large solar facilities in all townships of the county, including Franklin, would affect a refiling of the project, Schilling said “it depends.”

If the company started from scratch and made substantial changes to the plans that would require a new system impact study done for the power grid, that could affect the ability to refile due to the ban.

He explained that when Senate Bill 52 became law allowing townships to request commissioners ban large solar facilities or wind farms in their jurisdiction, projects already underway were grandfathered.

More specifically, he said projects that had a system impact study done by PJM, the power grid operator, and had paid PJM fees by Oct. 11, 2021 were grandfathered from local county and township restrictions.

According to an OPSB infographic on when solar projects are grandfathered, it was noted that if the system impact study was done and the fees paid and the OPSB letter of completeness were all completed by Oct. 11, 2021, a project would be completely grandfathered.

If a project had the system impact study done and paid the fees, but didn’t have the OPSB letter of completeness, the project would be partially grandfathered but required to have ad hoc members on the OPSB to represent the local community.

Schilling confirmed that Kensington Solar had both the system impact study done and paid the fees to PJM before the date of Oct. 11, 2021. If the company refiles an application and doesn’t make changes to the project that require a new PJM system impact study, then they may not fall under the ban due to being grandfathered.

The decision on the Kensington Solar application withdrawal was made during a meeting of the Ohio Power Siting Board Thursday afternoon in Columbus. Serving as ad hoc board members, Columbiana County Commissioner Tim Weigle and Franklin Township Trustee Mike Johnson were both there.

There was no discussion regarding the Kensington Solar item on the agenda, just a vote to approve the company’s request.

“The board agrees with Kensington’s arguments as it follows precedent and common practice within the board’s proceedings. Accordingly, the board finds that Kensington’s request to withdraw its application should be granted, and this case should be dismissed, without prejudice, and closed of record. Additionally, although this matter will be dismissed, all outstanding motions to intervene are granted,” the ruling by the board said.

Motions to intervene had been filed my local governmental entities who opposed the project, including the Columbiana County commissioners, the Franklin Township Board of Trustees, the Columbiana Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors and even the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown. St. John Catholic Church is located in Summitville. Franklin Against Kensington Solar, a group of residents opposed to the project, also filed a motion to intervene.

The Kensington PV I, LLC project announced in 2021 was described as a proposal to construct a 135 megawatt solar-powered electric generation facility in Franklin Township, consisting of solar panel arrays and associated facilities occupying approximately 1,000 acres. In addition to the solar panel arrays, the facility would include electrical collection lines, inverters, access roads, perimeter fencing, and a substation.

A public hearing and adjudicatory hearing that had been set for February and March this year were both canceled after the company requested a suspension of the procedural schedule and a stay of the proceedings.

An administrative law judge for the OPSB partially granted the request by Kensington Solar in January, staying everything, but ordering a status update from the company within five months.

In a status update filed on June 5, Kensington Solar’s attorney wrote, “Given the opposition expressed by the local governmental entities as to the stay, the resolutions previously passed opposing the project, and the request to intervene by the local opposition group opposing the project, Kensington has not progressed on discussions with interested stakeholders including discussions on a revised project layout (which was shared in 2023 with some of the local governmental entities). Kensington, as of the present date, does not foresee future discussions taking place with the local opposition group or the local governmental entities.”

In June, Kensington Solar filed the document to withdraw its application. Opposition entities filed motions asking for reactivation of the case.

Kensington filed a response to the motions filed by the local governmental entities, saying “the fact that Kensington does not want to pursue the application at this time should not bar it from refiling the application in the future.”