Ohio has more flat agricultural land suited to solar development than most states east of the Mississippi. Northwest and west-central Ohio is Corn Belt terrain — inexpensive, well-drained, and physically suited for utility-scale panels. Whether a developer can actually build on it comes down to a 2021 state law that restructured who controls the approval process — and which has closed off significant portions of exactly the counties that look best on a standard site screen.
What Senate Bill 52 changed
Before October 2021, Ohio handled utility-scale solar projects through the Ohio Power Siting Board. Projects of 50 MW or larger applied to OPSB for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need. The board evaluated technical and environmental criteria. County commissioners had no formal mechanism to stop a project they opposed.
Senate Bill 52 inserted a county gate at the beginning of that process. When a developer files a pre-application notice with OPSB, county commissioners may pass a resolution of disapproval within a defined response window. If the county passes the resolution before a full application is submitted, OPSB cannot issue a certificate — the project cannot be built there regardless of how the land scores on any other filter.
Since the law took effect, 37 of Ohio's 88 counties — roughly 40% — had passed resolutions creating solar exclusion zones in at least one township, according to Ohio Citizen Action's county tracker as of late 2025. The concentration is in western Ohio, where land is cheapest and flattest — the same geography that developers were actively pursuing before the law changed. Pulling OPSB's pre-application notice docket and reviewing county commission records from 2021 onward is the first step before any other analysis on an Ohio parcel.
What SB 52 doesn't affect: projects under 50 MW. Those bypass OPSB entirely and proceed through local zoning — typically a Special Use Permit at the county or township level. What agricultural zoning allows for solar projects varies by county ordinance, but a county that has passed an SB 52 resolution may still permit a 20 or 30 MW installation if its zoning code allows solar via SUP. The law carved out the utility-scale tier, not solar development generally.
The practical implication: in a restricted county, utility-scale leasing is off the table. A developer who approaches you for 150 acres in a county with a resolution in effect should raise questions about whether they've confirmed local political viability before spending any of your time.
Ohio's place in PJM
Ohio sits entirely within PJM, the largest grid operator in the US by load. AEP Ohio, FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities (Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating, Toledo Edison), and Duke Energy Ohio all operate as distribution companies within PJM's grid. That means interconnection for any Ohio solar project runs through PJM's study process, not a utility-specific queue.
That's a meaningfully different environment than states like North Carolina, where Duke controls its own interconnection process and operates without an independent grid operator. PJM publishes its queue publicly, runs under FERC jurisdiction, and implemented the cluster study process required by FERC Order 2023 starting in 2024: applications filed within a defined window are studied simultaneously, developers must demonstrate site control and pay non-refundable deposits before studies begin, and projects that miss readiness milestones lose their position. PJM completed its first cluster transition cycle in 2025.
The congestion reality hasn't disappeared. The 765-kV AEP transmission backbone running through central Ohio carries significant existing load. Projects that can tie into 138-kV or 345-kV substations with available capacity move more cleanly through study than those requiring new line construction. Distance to a substation is one number; available capacity at that substation is a different question — and only the first is easy to identify before engaging with a developer.
Where development is moving
The clearest reference point in Ohio's solar landscape is the Yellowbud Solar project in Ross and Pickaway Counties — 274 MW, developed by National Grid Renewables (now Geronimo Power) under a power purchase agreement with Amazon, which began operations in October 2023. The project spans roughly 1,300 acres across two counties tied into the Biers Run to Circleville 138-kV transmission line. That combination — open counties, reachable transmission, flat agricultural terrain — is what a viable Ohio solar corridor looks like.
Active development continues in Hardin and Wyandot counties in the central-west part of the state. The OPSB approved Scioto Ridge Solar in Hardin County in August 2024 — a 110 MW solar facility with a 20 MW battery storage component across approximately 822 acres in Lynn, McDonald, and Taylor Creek townships, with commercial operation expected by end of 2026. Panther Creek Solar, a 144 MW project by Pine Gate Renewables also in Hardin County, filed its OPSB application in 2025 and is progressing through the approval process. In Wyandot County, TotalEnergies received an OPSB certificate for Tymochtee Solar — up to 120 MW in Tymochtee and Sycamore Townships — with construction expected to begin in late 2025 and commercial operation by end of 2026. None of these counties have passed an SB 52 restriction.
Madison County, west of Columbus, attracts interest for a different reason: proximity to Columbus-area electrical load. Projects near major load centers often carry shorter interconnection study timelines because they tie into transmission infrastructure built to serve that demand.
| County | Region | Development status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ross / Pickaway | Central Ohio | Active — Yellowbud Solar operating | 274 MW Geronimo Power project, Amazon PPA, began operations Oct 2023 |
| Hardin | Central-west | Active pipeline | Scioto Ridge Solar (110 MW + 20 MW BESS) approved by OPSB Aug 2024 |
| Wyandot | Central | Active — Tymochtee Solar under development | 120 MW TotalEnergies project, OPSB certified, construction starting late 2025 |
| Madison | Central (Columbus proximity) | Active interest | Load proximity, lower interconnection study risk |
| Northwest corridor (Van Wert, Auglaize area) | Northwest | Verify SB 52 status first | Best terrain for solar; highest concentration of resolutions |
The northwest quadrant of the state — Van Wert, Auglaize, and neighboring counties — holds some of the flattest and least expensive agricultural land in Ohio. It is also where SB 52 opposition has concentrated most. Before any other analysis on a northwest Ohio parcel, confirm whether a resolution of disapproval is in effect at the county commission level.
What to verify before making an offer
SB 52 county status. Pull county commission meeting minutes from 2021 to the present. Look for any resolution referencing the Ohio Power Siting Board or large-scale energy projects. If a resolution was passed, confirm whether it remains in effect — some counties have revisited theirs.
OPSB pre-application notices. The OPSB docket shows active pre-application filings, which tells you which counties developers view as viable and whether the county's response window is open on a given project. A cluster of active notices in a county is a meaningful signal.
Flood zone classification. Check the FEMA Flood Map Service Center for the specific parcel. Northwest Ohio's flat terrain and subsurface tile drainage correlate with flood plain adjacency. Zone AE designation excludes a parcel from most utility-scale solar financing structures.
NWI wetlands. The National Wetlands Inventory Mapper identifies palustrine wetlands that appear as farmland on a tax map but fail the NWI screen. These appear frequently in low-lying northwest Ohio, near drainage ditches and areas with seasonal ponding.
Zoning and SUP requirements. For sub-50 MW projects, confirm the township or county zoning ordinance allows solar via Special Use Permit and identify setback, screening, and decommissioning bond requirements. Several Ohio townships have adopted solar-specific zoning amendments since 2021 that add meaningful compliance requirements developers factor into their offer.
Minimum viable footprint for utility-scale developers in Ohio runs 100–500 acres of contiguous usable land. Projects in the 20–50 MW range can qualify on smaller parcels, but less room for constraint setbacks increases study risk.
Lease rates
Ohio solar lease rates for utility-scale projects run $500–$1,100 per acre per year, with most negotiated leases landing between $600 and $900. The range reflects Ohio's moderate solar resource — GHI levels adequate for utility-scale development but below what comparable acres command in the Southeast or Southwest — layered with PJM interconnection economics and county-level permitting friction.
| Region | Range ($/acre/year) | Primary driver |
|---|---|---|
| Central Ohio (Ross, Hardin, Wyandot) | $650–$1,050 | Open permitting, active developer competition |
| Central Ohio, Columbus proximity (Pickaway, Madison) | $700–$1,100 | Load proximity, lower interconnection study risk |
| Northwest Ohio | $550–$950 | Best terrain, but SB 52 restriction risk suppresses competition |
| Eastern Ohio (Appalachian Plateau) | Not applicable | Terrain and limited grid infrastructure make utility-scale unviable |
The spread in northwest Ohio reflects the SB 52 uncertainty directly: counties that remain open attract competitive developer interest and push rates toward the upper end; those with restrictions see limited development activity and lower effective land values for solar-contingent purposes. A developer offering significantly below $500 for a parcel that clears every other filter warrants scrutiny of their interconnection assumptions.
Ohio doesn't maintain a public lease rate registry. These ranges draw on NREL's renewable energy land use and lease rate research, land broker activity in industry surveys, and SEIA's Ohio state profile data through 2025.
Sunnyplans maps substation and transformer proximity and screens parcels against PAD-US protected areas and the National Wetlands Inventory for Ohio listings — the grid access and conservation constraint inputs developers check before committing to site control. Browse solar land listings in Ohio to see which parcels have already cleared those filters.