Solar Leasing in Richland County, ND: Flickertail Project

Richland County is the site of the Flickertail Solar Project (formerly known as Abercrombie Solar), a proposed 300-megawatt, $375 million solar facility working through North Dakota Public Service Commission approval as of 2025-2026. It's a real, pending project with disclosed landowner lease terms and county tax figures, not a hypothetical -- and a live local dispute over a proposed county fee shows the approval process is still genuinely unsettled.

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

A real, currently-pending 300 MW solar project north of Galchutt

Flickertail Solar Project, LLC filed for a Certificate of Site Compatibility with the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) to build an approximately 300-megawatt solar energy conversion facility on roughly 3,464 acres north of Galchutt, in and around Abercrombie Township. The developer put the project cost at $375 million, with construction expected to create around 300 jobs, and a PSC public hearing was held in Wahpeton in March 2025. As of this review the project was still working through PSC review, not yet built or fully approved -- a buyer or landowner near the project footprint should confirm current PSC docket status (case 24-0351) before assuming the project's final scope or timeline.

For landowners inside the project area, Flickertail has secured voluntary lease agreements, easement agreements, or purchase options rather than relying on eminent domain or forced participation -- disclosed lease terms call for payments of $350 per acre per year, with an inflation adjustment built in over the life of the agreement. That figure gives any Richland County landowner approached with a solar lease offer a real, sourced benchmark to compare against, rather than negotiating blind.

Disclosed tax revenue -- and a live, unresolved fee dispute worth watching

The project's disclosed local tax impact is specific: an estimated $820,000 per year in total taxes, broken out as roughly $320,000 to Richland County, $290,000 to the state, $120,000 to Colfax Township, and $90,000 to the local school district -- with a cumulative estimate of $25 million to $30 million in property taxes paid over the project's estimated 30-year life. Those figures are useful context both for a landowner evaluating community impact and for understanding how seriously the county's own finances are tied to the project's approval.

That approval has not been a formality: reporting found the project's fate 'clouded' by proposed county-level requirements, including a proposed $17.5 million fee that emerged as a point of contention during the local review process. This is a live, evolving dispute rather than a settled matter -- exactly the kind of local friction a prospective landowner or buyer near the project footprint should track directly, since it affects both whether the project proceeds as planned and what conditions the county may eventually attach to it. Confirm current status directly with the Richland County Auditor's office and the PSC docket rather than relying on the project's original 2024-2025 announcement terms.

Solar Land Leasing in Richland County, North Dakota

A real, currently-pending 300 MW solar project north of Galchutt

Disclosed tax revenue -- and a live, unresolved fee dispute worth watching

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