CHARLESTON — Mason County could play host to a new proposed solar energy facility in the near future.

New Haven PV I LLC, a subsidiary of Kansas-based Tyr Energy Development Renewables, applied to the West Virginia Public Service Commission Friday for an application for a solar siting certificate and a waiver from providing detailed transmission line information. New Haven Solar is seeking a determination from the PSC by the end of the month.

New Haven Solar has proposed building a 100-megawatt solar energy plant in Mason County. The plant will act as an exempt wholesale generator, selling the electricity it generates on the PJM Interconnection regional marketplace and to Appalachian Power/American Electric Power. The project will involve no new transmission line, which is why the company is seeking a waiver from the transmission line information requirement.

TED Renewables was founded in 2022 to manage Tyr Energy’s renewable energy portfolio. The company owns 12 wind, solar, and conventional electric generation projects in 10 states. New Haven Solar would be TED Renewables’ second solar project and make West Virginia its 11th location.

The New Haven project would involve installing solar panel arrays in rows of 226,356 individual photovoltaic modules on 304 acres near Sassafras, 3.5 miles south of New Haven. The total acreage is approximately 836 acres, including buffer zones around the solar panel site.

If approved, the project is estimated to be operational by 2026, with permits in hand by the summer of 2024, interconnection agreements by the second quarter of 2024, and construction beginning in 2025.

Besides PSC approval, the project will need permit approvals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Division of Highways, and consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Arts, Culture and History.

According to a 2021 economic impact report conducted on behalf of New Haven Solar by Strategic Economic Research LLC, the project represented an investment by the company of $97 million with 319 new construction jobs in the state, 5.9 long-term jobs, and $862 thousand in local long-term output for the state annually and $513 thousand in long-term local output for Mason County annually, though it plans to pursue a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes agreement with the Mason County Commission.

“Given the increasing interest among companies to be conscious of environmental footprint and ecological impact, having a renewable energy source for its operations is getting more emphasis when choosing a destination for factories, data centers, and/or other facilities,” said Elias M. Toshiro, the project development manager at TED Renewables. “Not only does New Haven Solar have an indirect impact on bringing more business and companies to West Virginia … the Project is estimated to have numerous direct positive impacts both locally and state-wide.”

The company cited two bills passed by the West Virginia Legislature in 2020 encouraging the development of solar power options in West Virginia. Senate Bill 578 adjusted the calculation of business and occupation taxes for generating, producing, and selling electricity from solar energy facilities.

Senate Bill 583 allows utilities to develop 200 megawatts of solar generation, though the utilities are limited to only 50 megawatt increments to start once a utility meets an 85% subscription rate for either residential, commercial, or industrial customers.

“… Public officials and business leaders had noted that many Fortune 500 and other businesses now require that a state have a good supply of renewable energy generation before they will consider investing in or locating a project or facility in the state,” the company wrote in its application document. “By enhancing the supply of renewable energy generation in West Virginia, the project can reasonably be expected to enhance regional and statewide economic development for years to come.”