PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY … Ground was officially broken for the $11 million dollar Edward Kidston Generation Station which is located off U.S. Route 20 just east of Pioneer. Taking part in the groundbreaking ceremony were from left: Village Fiscal Officer Nikki Mittelstaedt, council members Dean Frisbie and Brock Zuver, Ninth U.S. District Ohio House Representative Marcy Kaptur, Mayor Edward Kidston, Northwest Ohio Regional Representative for U.S. Senator Jon Husted, Ashley Ashton, council president Bryan Gendron, council members Joe Nickloy and Al Fiser and Village Administrator Anthony Burnett.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Village of Pioneer Edward Kidston Generation Station on Thursday, April 9.
The $11 million solar field project located at 15301 U.S. Route 20 just east of Pioneer will produce electricity and save costs for village residents. It has been a major undertaking since planning began in 2024.
“This is an exciting day for Pioneer, no doubt about it, and we’ve worked on this project for a long time already,” said Kidston. “We’ve started it back in the beginning of 2024. It’s been a long process.
“We are now to the point where we have the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) loan in place and contracts are signed.”
Ashley Aston, the Northwest Ohio regional representative for U.S. Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio, spoke on behalf of the Montpelier native who was unable to attend.
She offered his congratulations on the accomplishment and investment in the Village of Pioneer. Kidston was then presented with a proclamation from Husted.
She then gave a few written remarks from Husted in which he recognized the Edward Kidston Generation Station.
“I’m honored to recognize the groundbreaking of the Edward Kidston Generation Station and to celebrate this new development for the Pioneer community,” said Aston.
“The nearly five-megawatt solar field will serve as an asset to the village by harvesting locally produced clean energy and substantially reducing energy costs as the demand increases for more than 900 households.”
Established on 35 acres just inside the village limits, Aston added the project will drive competition and establish the Village of Pioneer as a leader in developing accessible clean energy.
“I commend Mayor Edward Kidston and other local leaders for their contributions and the completion of this project,” said Aston about Husted’s remarks.
“Through federal partnerships, exceptional service and dedication to the region’s success.
“The groundbreaking of the Edward Kidston Generation Station demonstrates the village’s commitment to innovation and to leading the expanding needs of those who call Pioneer home. Please accept my sincere congratulations on this incredible recognition.”
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, who was instrumental in helping the village successfully obtain a $10.5 million loan from the USDA for the project, said having a power system owned by the people is unique.
Kaptur was able to obtain the USDA loan for Pioneer, where she serves on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.
The loan will go toward the purchase of equipment used to create the solar field despite not using any farmland.
“We have to learn better in our townships, and the State of Ohio has to learn better how to handle solar development,” she commented.
Kaptur, a Toledo native, told the audience a short story about former Toledo Mayor Sam Jones (1897-1904), who had wanted to have the utility system owned by the people despite not being able to achieve it.
Kidston, who has served as mayor of Pioneer for over three decades, thanked everyone for attending the history-making event for the village.
“A special thank you to all our partners here today and the partners who we have leaned on heavily for this newest exciting venture,” said Kidston.
The mayor also gave a brief history of Pioneer, which is now 176 years old. He pointed out that a few pioneers settled in this location and eventually decided to call it home.
“Since then, generations of families have laughed and cried; they have lived through tough times and great times,” said Kidston.
“They have built businesses, schools, churches, parks, and homes. They have lived lifetimes and then once their children and grandchildren live lifetimes. What we all consider to be a very special slice of this nation.”
Kidston added, “Today I’m proud to say that Pioneer is a vibrant community filled with opportunity, promise and positioned for a better tomorrow. One hundred fifteen years ago, leaders of our community decided to take the risk and to make Pioneer, Ohio a public power town.
“Our leaders have always believed in our community, they always believed in taking risks so that future generations will prosper.”
Kidston was deeply honored by the fact that the new generation station is being named after him. He thanked the village council members for the recognition.
“Keeping the tradition of always moving Pioneer forward has truly been a lifetime of commitment for me and my family and I cannot be more pleased with the results,” Kidston said.
Kidston appreciates the team’s effort involved in getting the project off the ground.
“I’m proud that if this project materializes as we all envisioned it, then current and future generations of Pioneer residents will enjoy extremely affordable electric rates and a valuable asset capable of providing renewable electricity for decades to come,” he said.
“We plan to put shovels to the ground today, but this story began way back at the beginning of 2024. The market conditions dictated that we needed to reevaluate our business model.
“All of the experts were telling us that even though the price of energy was not going up too much, the cost of transmitting that energy to Pioneer was going to skyrocket in 2026 and that’s already happened.
“As you all can see in some of your local electric rates, we have the highest rates that I can ever remember in Pioneer right now.”
To protect the citizens of Pioneer from the ever-increasing transmission rates, the goal is to develop local generation that could feed behind the meter. Kidston said the village had two choices for generating electricity: wind or solar.
“In little Pioneer, Ohio, the past thirty years, we’ve done many great things,” said the mayor.
“But this solar field may be the greatest challenge of all. Experts told us that the five-megawatt field for little Pioneer was too large, and it would not be because I know the growth is right around the corner.
“They told us that we could never get through all of the government red tape, the environment and policy. But with the help of some very fine consultants, we are getting along just fine.
“We were told this project would not get finished for less than $18 million dollars but were bringing it in under $11 million dollars. We were told we would never to be able to buy U.S.-made components, but we did buy one hundred percent USA made.
“We were told that we should let the experts do all the hard work, but then we knew they were going to take the tax credits, transmission capacity credits, and they were to charge our residents five or six cents per kilowatt hour. We just didn’t think that it wasn’t in the best interest of our community.”
Once the Edward Kidston Generation Station is completed, either in September or October of this year, it will be owned by the citizens of Pioneer.
“All of the benefits will flow directly to our citizens,” pointed out Kidston. “This project will produce annually nearly one-third of our required energy.
“When we combine it with the five smaller hydro dams on the Ohio River in which we own small shares, then all of Pioneer’s electric needs will be 56 percent renewable and that’s a pretty good carbon footprint for our town.”
