National Grid Renewables held a community celebration Wednesday, Oct. 10 in Greenfield to commemorate the construction of the Fayette and Ross County Solar Projects.

The Fayette Solar Project is located in Fayette and Highland counties, and the Ross County Solar Project, located in Ross County, will be connected to the Buckskin Substation.

The projects will use a total of 419,300 panels across about 1,750 acres. Once operational, they will provide enough power for the annual electrical usage of 44,500 households.

National Grid Renewables Vice President for External Affairs and Communications Lindsay Smith said construction on the projects began earlier this year, and the solar panels should be operational by the end of this year.

“Typically, we’re looking at a year to 18 months for a build,” she said. “We’re actually starting to energize pieces of it to make sure it’s working and testing and things like that.”

She said the event, called “Solar Harvest Festival,” was set up to give members of the community a closer look at the projects. “We like to celebrate with the community,” said Smith. “We like to, at some point during construction, kind of give them a peek behind the curtain because once it’s operational, it’s pretty quiet.”

Ross County Commissioner Dwight Garrett is a supporter of the project.

“When you drive by and you see a corn field and a bean field, now you are going to drive by and see a solar farm,” said Garrett. “They’ve done great work on landscaping around the outside, and we’ve had great partnership with National Grid.”

Garrett said that project has been great for the community.

“It will be great for the schools and the townships, and I think everybody is onboard,” he said.

The projects are anticipated to avoid a total of 4.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions during the first 20 years of operation, which is the equivalent of taking an estimated 1.01 million cars off the road for a year. Since the projects generate power without the use of water, they are projected to avoid 138 million gallons of water consumption annually that would be used by fossil fuel generators.

“The construction process brings with it a lot of economic development including jobs and local spending,” said Smith.

The projects also bring new tax revenue and charitable giving to the area. They are estimated to generate $29.5 million in tax revenue to the area over the first 20 years of operation, and a charitable fund will give a projected $670,000 during the first 20 years of operation.

Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.