Wind & Solar Leasing in Fallon County, MT

Fallon County is already home to one of Montana's largest solar farms and sits at the center of a proposed 1,000-megawatt wind project -- making it one of the state's more active counties for landowners considering a wind or solar lease, and one where the underlying legal ground (turbine setbacks, county tax treatment) has shifted recently.

This page covers what's specific to Fallon County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

Cabin Creek Solar: a real, operating project west of Baker

The Cabin Creek Solar project, developed by Clenera and consisting of two 75-megawatt phases (150 MW total) about five miles west of Baker, is one of Montana's largest solar developments and the clearest example of what utility-scale energy leasing looks like on the ground in Fallon County. Basin Electric Power Cooperative holds a 15-year power purchase agreement for the output. Fallon County commissioners approved a property-tax abatement for the project covering its first 10 years of operation -- a standard tool Montana counties use to attract large energy projects -- with the developer projecting roughly $8 million in property taxes to the county and $5 million to the state over the project's expected 35-year life once the abatement period ends.

For a landowner near an existing or proposed solar site, the practical lessons are that (1) county tax abatements on these projects are negotiated case by case with the Board of County Commissioners rather than set by a fixed formula, and (2) the county's own commission meeting minutes (published at falloncountymt.gov) are the most reliable record of what's been approved, proposed, or discussed for a specific project -- more reliable than developer press materials alone.

The Jane Wind project: 1,000 megawatts, 80,000 leased acres, and a still-unsettled timeline

Fallon County is also one of only a handful of Montana counties with utility-scale wind development, and the county's largest prospective project is Jane Wind, an Invenergy-developed 1,000 MW wind farm proposed roughly 10 miles south of Baker and 10 miles north of Ekalaka, straddling the Fallon-Carter county line. As briefed to the Fallon County Commission, the project had roughly 80,000 acres under signed lease as of the most recent public reporting, would interconnect at the Colstrip substation via a 130-mile transmission line, and was projected to bring about $180 million into the local economy over a 30-year life, supporting roughly 500 construction jobs over a typical two-year build and 35-40 permanent operations and maintenance positions afterward.

That said, this is a live, contested project, not a done deal. Montana press coverage through 2025 described the project running into political headwinds in southeastern Montana, and landowners who have already signed leases have described uncertainty about the project's actual construction timeline. If you're evaluating land in the Jane Wind footprint -- or being approached about a lease -- treat any specific in-service date with real skepticism and confirm the project's current status directly with Invenergy or the Fallon County Planning Department rather than relying on older news coverage.

A 2025 legislative fight over turbine setbacks affects what gets built near you

During the 2025 Montana legislative session, two eastern-Montana lawmakers -- House Speaker Brandon Ler of Savage and Rep. Katie Zolnikov -- separately sponsored bills aimed at restricting wind development, driven in part by non-participating landowners' concerns near projects like Jane Wind. Ler's House Bill 389 would have required new turbines to sit at least 3,000 feet from a public road and 1.5 miles from any neighboring property line unless that neighbor was also party to a wind lease -- setbacks a wind-industry witness testified would have functioned as a de facto moratorium on new Montana wind development. Neither of the more restrictive bills advanced out of committee; the Legislature instead passed a narrower measure setting more modest, industry-standard setback distances.

For a landowner in Fallon County, this matters two ways. If you're a prospective wind-lease participant, current (not the rejected, stricter) state setback law governs how close a turbine can be sited to a participating landowner's own buildings and to neighboring, non-participating land -- ask any developer to show you the specific setback figures they're using and confirm those against current Montana Department of Environmental Quality guidance. If you're a non-participating neighbor near a proposed turbine string, the legislative fight is a reminder that the applicable setback rules are new and were still actively contested as of the 2025 session -- don't assume a decade-old wind project's setbacks reflect current law.

Wind and Solar Energy Leasing in Fallon County, Montana

Cabin Creek Solar: a real, operating project west of Baker

The Jane Wind project: 1,000 megawatts, 80,000 leased acres, and a still-unsettled timeline

A 2025 legislative fight over turbine setbacks affects what gets built near you

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