At 83 years old, I now find myself watching many of the power plants I helped build being retired.
The typical lifespan of a large coal-fired power plant is up to 40 years. Many of the facilities I worked on didn’t even reach that mark. The Zimmer Power Plant in Moscow, Ohio, for example, took more than 20 years to permit and construct. It operated for just 31 years before closing in 2022, five years earlier than planned. It was the sixth coal-burning power plant in our region to shut down in a decade. In 2017, DP&L also announced the closure of J.M. Stuart and Killen Station, two additional plants I worked on.
The reality is, coal producers are losing tens of thousands of dollars an hour, and tens of millions of dollars per year at a typical power plant.
From an engineering and public health standpoint, the drawbacks of coal are well known. A typical 600-megawatt coal plant burns roughly 300 tons of coal every hour and produces about 75 tons of toxic ash per hour. About 1,000 acres is required for the plant and ash disposal, and the runoff from coal piles and ash ponds must be treated. Coal ash contains arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals that are linked to cancer, reproductive failure, and neurological harm.
Solar energy simply does not carry these burdens.
Solar facilities are quiet, low-profile, and produce electricity without ash, fuel deliveries, cooling towers, or toxic byproducts. Panels are almost entirely recyclable, and at the end of a project’s life, the land can be returned to agricultural use. Solar projects are dramatically faster to build, and far less disruptive. Furthermore, unlike most other forms of energy generation, the land used for solar can be easily returned to farming at the end of the project’s life; and in Ohio, the company is required to pay for this decommissioning process.
Over the years, I have watched solar projects go from construction sites to finished facilities that blend into the landscape. Once construction equipment is removed and landscaping is complete, these projects are barely noticeable. There is no noise, no pollution, and no long-term waste management problem left behind.
I’m originally from Clark County, Ohio – and it means a lot to me. As does Ohio’s energy future. Fortunately, Clark County has an opportunity to embrace a proposed solar project called the Sloopy Solar Energy Center.
In addition to the clear, commonsense economic, engineering, environmental, and land use advantages of utility-scale solar, Sloopy will generate enough electricity to power more than 33,000 homes. This comes at a time when our state is at risk of energy shortfalls and desperately needs more power on the grid to keep up with demand. Furthermore, the project has the potential to deliver more than $64 million to the local economy.
Clark County needs reliable electricity, a strong tax base, and practical economic development. Sloopy Solar helps deliver all three. It reflects the direction the power industry is already going.
Having spent my career designing and building the power plants that once kept Ohio running, I know that projects like Sloopy Solar are a logical next chapter in how we generate electricity – cleaner, faster, and more economically sound. Clark County should embrace this reality and the opportunity to benefit from the Sloopy project.
Ken Bailey, a Clark County native, is a retired professional engineer, architect, certified energy manager, and accredited professional designer for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects.