Coal-to-solar project lands a rare clean-energy win in Ohio

Ohio regulators have approved a large solar-plus-battery project in Vinton County, in the southeast part of the state, with no opposition — unusual for a state where clean energy proposals often face pushback. Developer Recurrent Energy will build 149 megawatts of solar and 149 megawatts of battery storage on reclaimed coal mine land at the Hamden Energy site. Because the project sits on a former mine rather than farmland, it avoided the land-use fights that have slowed other Ohio solar projects. Construction will start only after ongoing land reclamation work, handled separately by another company, is finished.

This is part of a broader shift in the state. A 2025 law, House Bill 15, lets former mine lands and industrial sites known as brownfields count as priority areas for energy development, and lets counties host solar there even under a 2021 law that otherwise makes it easier for local governments to block wind and solar projects. Ohio has identified more than 70,000 acres that could potentially qualify, and state officials have begun designating the first such sites.

None of this changes anything for a typical homeowner's rooftop or utility bill directly, but it signals more large-scale solar and storage projects may get built on old industrial and mining land in Ohio going forward, rather than farmland. A separate bill that could make future wind and solar permitting harder statewide has passed the Ohio Senate and is now before the House.