The solar energy market in Ohio is growing, and advocates said manufacturing is going to triple here in the next couple of years. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, investments total around $5 billion and about 8,000 Ohioans are employed in the industry.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio's solar energy market has been growing in recent years

  • However, that could change as the current presidential administration sets its sights on clean energy initiatives

  • Large solar projects in Ohio have stalled due to community concerns

But there are questions around whether this growth will continue. The Trump administration is considering eliminating a federal tax incentive that would hurt the industry. 

Ohio Power Solutions is a family-owned solar energy business that started about 15 years ago. Owner Bob Sisco said he and his son built the company from the ground up and took a lot of work and sweat to get it to where they are today.

“In the beginning, you know, we maybe did three or four installations a year. That’s not a lot of gross revenue, you know, maybe $100,000,” Sisco said. “Now we’re doing about close to 200 installations a year.”

But for business owners like Sisco, this momentum may be a thing of the past.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to reduce the nation’s deficit, and he’s also signed an executive order targeting clean energy initiatives like the Green New Deal.

Rea Hederman, vice president of policy at the Buckeye Institute, said the reason Ohio has seen so much growth in solar is due to a massive investment from the federal and state governments through subsidies, and that’s why this industry may be under threat. 

“That the federal government is going to pull back their solar subsidies and the state is looking to end subsidies because inflation’s high taxpayer dollars are more scarce, and it’s not driving down energy prices the way people anticipate,” Hederman said. “We’re one of the most cloudy states in the nation and that’s because you know we’re a northern latitude state. We get less sunlight during the winter and because of the Great Lakes, we have a lot of cloud cover and so if you’re looking to build a solar plant you normally wouldn’t look at Ohio.”

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association, said Congress is looking at tax cuts and reducing storage for solar energy.

She said, if this happens, solar energy manufacturing in Ohio would take a hit.

“The benefits that solar and storage bring, the jobs, the savings, the economic development,” Ross Hopper said.

In the meantime, large solar projects in Ohio have also stalled due to community concerns. Ross Hopper said there is a lot of misinformation. 

“You might hear, well, you know, solar is trying to take up all the farmland in the state and so it’s changing the agricultural opportunity and the facts are, that’s not actually true, that solar actually needs a very small footprint,” Ross Hopper said.

But Sisco said he remains cautiously optimistic in solar energy’s future because of the benefits he’s seen.

“I don’t pay for electricity at all, and that’s what most people will see,” Sisco said. “Or, worst case. as long as they have enough roof space they can have negative bills for ten months of the year.”