Efforts by a Canadian-owned company to obtain a permit for a solar energy facility on Columbiana County farmland are on hold as developers of the project hope to address concerns expressed by neighbors living around the proposed 1,132-acre site.

An administrative law judge has granted Kensington Solar’s request to suspend the current procedural schedule to allow it to attempt further discussions about the project with local citizens and governments.

In 2021, Kensington announced plans to construct a 135-megawatt solar-powered electric generation facility in Franklin Township in Columbiana County.  The facility would have 300,000 solar panels. 

The purpose of the project is to maximize energy production from solar resources to deliver clean, renewable electricity to the regional transmission system to serve the needs of electric utilities and their customers.

Franklin Against Kensington Solar, a group of residents, landowners, and citizens has opposed the project, claiming it would adversely impact the future of more than 2,200 mostly agricultural acres.

Franklin Township Trustees and the Columbiana County Commissioners have intervened in the case, claiming the solar farm is not in the best interest of the community.

Because of the administrative law judge’s ruling, the Ohio Power Siting Board has canceled a public hearing on the project that had been scheduled for February 15.

Commissioners have banned large-scale wind and solar farms in unincorporated areas of all 18 townships of Columbiana County.

The Kensington project is not covered by the township bans because the plans were filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board before a new law went into effect permitting counties to enact such bans.