Wind & Solar Leasing in Union County, OH: Three Solar Farms

Union County has drawn at least three separate, named utility-scale solar developments -- one already operating, others at various stages -- spanning Washington, York, Leesburg, Claibourne, and Taylor Townships. Here's what's known about each, and what it means for a landowner elsewhere in the county who gets a lease offer.

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

AEUG Union Solar: an operating, large-scale project in Washington and York Townships

AEUG Union Solar, LLC -- developed by the international renewable-energy company Acciona and marketed publicly as the Union Solar Farm -- is an up to 325-megawatt solar facility spanning roughly 22 square miles across Washington and York Townships in Union County. The project is reported to include approximately 760,000 solar panels and reportedly began operations around 2024, having been reviewed and approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB case 20-1405-EL-BGN). At this scale, the project represents a substantial land-use commitment across multiple square miles of what was previously agricultural land in the two host townships.

For a landowner in or near Washington or York Township, a project of this size means the surrounding land-use character has already changed in a visible, permanent way, at least for the duration of the lease term (commonly 25-40 years for utility-scale solar). If your own parcel borders the project footprint, expect questions about setbacks, screening, and decommissioning obligations to be more concrete and immediate than they would be for a purely speculative future project elsewhere in the county.

Cadence Solar Energy Center and Richwood Solar: more projects, more townships

Separately, Invenergy has developed the Cadence Solar Energy Center, a 240-megawatt solar project located in Union County. And Richwood Solar is a proposed 250-megawatt solar facility paired with a 50-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS), covering approximately 1,435 acres across Leesburg, Claibourne, and Taylor Townships -- a different part of the county from the Union Solar Farm and Cadence projects. The pairing of a large battery system with the solar array reflects a design trend across Ohio's newer utility-scale solar proposals, intended partly to smooth out power delivery and partly to strengthen the project's case before the Ohio Power Siting Board.

Taken together, these three projects mean Union County has meaningfully more utility-scale solar development -- both operating and proposed -- than most Ohio counties of its size, spread across at least five different townships (Washington, York, Leesburg, Claibourne, and Taylor). If you own land in or near any of these townships, it's reasonable to expect a developer's outreach at some point, even if your specific parcel isn't inside a project's current footprint.

What this means if you get a lease offer

Given how active Union County's solar market already is, a lease offer here is not a hypothetical or first-of-its-kind event the way it might be in a county with no track record -- there are now multiple real, built or approved projects to compare terms against. Ask specifically which developer is behind an offer, whether the project has already filed with (or been approved by) the Ohio Power Siting Board, and what township it falls in, since Union County's townships each administer their own zoning independently rather than through a single county code (see our general Union County hub for that context).

As with any wind or solar lease in Ohio, have the agreement reviewed by an attorney experienced with utility-scale renewable leases before signing -- these are typically multi-decade commitments with decommissioning, easement, and payment-escalation terms that are easy to get wrong on a first read. Confirm current project status directly with the Ohio Power Siting Board (opsb.ohio.gov) and the relevant township trustees, since a project's scope or even its continued existence can change between when this page was researched and when you're evaluating an offer.

Wind & Solar Leasing in Union County, Ohio

AEUG Union Solar: an operating, large-scale project in Washington and York Townships

Cadence Solar Energy Center and Richwood Solar: more projects, more townships

What this means if you get a lease offer

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