Exelon, known mostly as the largest nuclear generator in the US, is a wind energy developer as well, and the company is planning its first commercial wind farm in Ohio.
The Chicago-based company's Exelon Wind subsidiary this week filed a pre-application notification letter with the Ohio Power Siting Board of its intent to install up to 87 turbines to generate as much as 200 MW in northern Ohio's Seneca County.
"We are in the early stages of development," company spokeswoman Kristin Otterness said Tuesday.
The OPSB, an arm of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, has a well-defined, formal process for siting generation and transmission projects.
According to PUC spokesman Matt Schilling, a developer first must submit the notification letter to the seven-member board. Then, a public hearing must be held in a community near the proposed project site. Finally, a formal application is filed with the board. Several months later, the board issues its decision.
Sally Bloomfield, a veteran Columbus, Ohio, attorney who often represents developers of generation and transmission projects, said Tuesday it probably will be several months before Exelon Wind submits its formal application.
Based on the preliminary filing, about 87 turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3 MW to 2.5 MW, would stretch across about 25,000 leased acres of land in portions of Scipio, Reed, Eden, Bloom and Venice townships in the county.
Exelon Wind is requesting waivers from the board involving several issues, including that it be allowed to provide a general narrative description of the vegetative cover that may be disturbed during construction, rather than a required map.
Bloomfield said such waiver requests are "not novel" and have been granted in a number of recent wind energy cases in Ohio.
Unlike some of its neighboring states, wind energy has been slow to take hold in Ohio, a traditional heavy manufacturing state that long has relied on coal-fired generation and where five major natural gas-fired plants totaling more than 4,000 MW are under construction and/or development.
While about a dozen projects representing 687 turbines and 1,346 MW of wind generation either have been approved by state regulators or are pending, Schilling said only two wind farms are operating -- the 304-MW Blue Creek Wind Farm in Van Wert and Paulding counties and the 99-MW Timber Road 2 Wind Farm in Paulding County.
Blue Creek was developed by Blue Creek Wind LLC, Timber Road 2 by EDP Renewables North America LLC.
Construction is expected to start soon, perhaps later this year, on several other approved wind farms, possibly including the 224.7-MW Scioto Ridge in Logan and Hardin counties.
Otterness said Exelon Wind has developed 47 wind projects totaling almost 1,500 MW in 10 states -- Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas.
Its parent company owns more than 20,000 MW of nuclear generation, including about 11,000 MW in Illinois. Exelon recently announced plans to close its money-losing Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear plants in Illinois totaling nearly 3,000 MW on June 1, 2017, and June 1, 2018, respectively, after the Illinois General Assembly failed to pass legislation sought by the company.
