Doral Energizes 48-MW Great Bend Solar in Ohio

• Ohio’s 48‑MW Great Bend Solar flips the switch, delivering midday power, tax revenue, and jobs—bifacial trackers now, battery-ready for evening peaks as retiring thermal plants fade.

Doral Renewables has energized the 48-MW Great Bend Solar project in Williams County, Ohio, expanding Ohio’s PV fleet. The plant will deliver midday power for thousands of homes and steady tax revenue for schools and services. Construction created local jobs; a small crew will manage operations and maintenance with string inverters and a grid-ready controller.

Bifacial modules on single-axis trackers stretch output, and the substation is battery-ready for multi-hour storage to shift energy into evening peaks. Doral can sell via long-term offtake or hedged/merchant exposure, supported by telemetry. Using existing transmission, Great Bend adds capacity as Ohio retires thermal units.

What are the project’s offtake options, storage readiness, and grid integration benefits?

Offtake options
- Long-term PPAs with investor‑owned utilities, municipal utilities, or electric cooperatives seeking fixed-price daytime energy and RECs to meet RPS goals
- Corporate procurement via physical PPAs or virtual PPAs (contracts for differences) with Midwest manufacturers, data centers, and logistics firms targeting decarbonization
- Structured hedges (fixed-volume swap, proxy generation, or revenue put) to manage basis and weather risk in PJM, complemented by nodal telemetry for settlement
- Merchant sales into PJM day-ahead/real-time markets with optional REC carve-outs; potential capacity market revenues based on PJM’s ELCC rules
- Community aggregation or retail supplier offtake through block energy products aligned to midday profiles

Storage readiness
- Substation designed for AC‑coupled, multi-hour battery expansion with reserved interconnection capacity, conduits, and protection settings pre-engineered
- EMS/SCADA and plant controller already set up for storage dispatch, state-of-charge management, and participation in PJM frequency regulation and fast-ramping services
- Physical space, thermal management, and fire-safety provisions allocated for containerized batteries and future augmentation
- Commercial optionality for standalone storage ITC and solar+storage configurations, enabling arbitrage, peak‑shaving, and capacity accreditation
- Capability to charge from onsite PV or grid (subject to market rules) to optimize arbitrage and ancillary revenues

Grid integration benefits
- Utilizes existing transmission interconnection, adding capacity without major new lines and easing integration as legacy thermal units retire
- Advanced inverter functions (voltage/VAR support, ramp-rate control, ride-through) enhance local voltage stability and reduce flicker and congestion impacts
- Plant controller enables curtailment minimization, congestion-aware dispatch, and fast response to PJM directives
- Storage add-on will shift surplus midday output to evening peaks, lowering net load ramps and improving reliability during high-demand hours
- High-resolution telemetry improves forecasting, scheduling, and compliance, reducing imbalance costs and supporting system operator visibility