A meeting was held recently by Franklin County residents opposed to solar farm development in Franklin County. Two solar proposals have been in front of the Franklin County Commission in recent weeks. One north of town, a smaller project that would be on a quarry lake, the other, a larger one, proposed by Orion Energy, would be south of town on over 1,00 acres of ground near the Ottawa Municipal Airport
At the meeting, Jessica Christopher spoke on fire and battery storage safety at solar farms and the effects they have on local fire departments. The battery on the proposed solar array would be a lithium battery and rather large, presenting challenges to local authorities in the case of a fire. This comes as the Ottawa Fire Department had to request Mutual Aid from Consolidated Fire District #1, requesting a special trailer utilized in suppressing lithium ion battery fires. A truck at Kalmar caught fire recently, and Ottawa could not get the fire under control using traditional methods.
Orion will have a public information session at the Ottawa Memorial Auditorium. We will have more information on that meeting soon.
