Wind & Solar Leasing in Fulton County, OH: Ritter Station Solar

A 1,700-acre, 199-megawatt solar facility in Gorham Township just became one of the largest approved solar projects in this corner of Ohio -- a genuinely useful, dated case study for any Fulton County landowner weighing a solar or transmission-line lease offer of their own.

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

A specific, decided case: Ritter Station Solar

In November 2025, the Ohio Power Siting Board voted 7-2 to approve the Ritter Station Solar project, proposed by CG Fulton County LLC (an affiliate of the Spanish energy company Repsol) for roughly 1,700 acres in Gorham Township, in Fulton County's northwest corner near the Village of Fayette and the Michigan state line. As approved, the facility totals 199 megawatts of solar generating capacity, built out with arrays of ground-mounted panels, inverters, access roads, and an operations-and-maintenance building, along with a proposed 2.2-mile, 138-kilovolt transmission line connecting the site to the existing East Fayette Substation.

Because a project of this scale (200 megawatts and above) is classified as a "major utility facility" under Ohio law, the approval authority sits with the state Ohio Power Siting Board rather than with Fulton County or Gorham Township's own zoning process -- a distinction worth understanding if you're evaluating land near a proposed utility-scale project anywhere in the county, since local zoning input, while considered, does not have the final say the way it would for an ordinary rezoning case.

What the project pays, and to whom

Ritter Station Solar is structured to make payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) payments rather than standard property tax, estimated at roughly $1.79 million per year, or about $53.7 million over the project's projected 30-year life. Local reporting indicates the Fayette Local School District alone is estimated to receive over $500,000 annually from the arrangement, split among the district, the county, and other local taxing entities under Ohio's standard PILOT framework for large solar facilities -- a meaningful, quantifiable revenue stream for the surrounding community rather than an abstract promise.

For a landowner near (but not part of) the project footprint, this kind of large PILOT arrangement is useful context: it signals the kind of long-term revenue local governments are weighing when evaluating similar proposals, which can shape how receptive a township or the county is likely to be toward a future project on or near your own land.

What this means if you're weighing a solar lease yourself

If you own land in or near Gorham Township, or anywhere else in Fulton County that a developer has approached about a solar lease or transmission easement, the Ritter Station Solar case is a useful reference point for scale: 1,700 acres under lease or option supported a single 199-megawatt facility, giving you a rough sense of the acreage-to-capacity ratio developers are working with in this region. Before signing anything, confirm the lease's term length, decommissioning obligations, payment escalation clauses, and whether the agreement includes an option period that could tie up your land for years before construction (or a final decision not to build) ever happens.

Also confirm directly with Fulton County and Gorham Township whether any additional solar or wind proposals are pending nearby -- a second or third project in the same area can affect road-use agreements, agricultural drainage, and neighboring land values in ways a single, isolated project might not. See our national guide to easements for how transmission-line and pipeline easements tied to a project like this typically work, separate from the solar lease itself.

Wind & Solar Leasing in Fulton County, Ohio: The Ritter Station Solar Project

A specific, decided case: Ritter Station Solar

What the project pays, and to whom

What this means if you're weighing a solar lease yourself

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