Ohio’s Clean Energy Blockade Is Starting to Cost Residents
Published · 5 min read
A fight over power, prices, and permits
Ohio has spent more than a decade slowing down wind and solar development. Now the cost is becoming harder to ignore.
Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court blocked part of the permit for the 800-megawatt Oak Run Solar Project, which would be the largest solar installation in the state. The project is not dead. The court reversed only one part of the Ohio Power Siting Board’s approval. Still, the ruling adds more uncertainty to a project that could supply a large amount of electricity at a time when Ohio needs more power.
That is the bigger story.
According to a recent analysis by Save Ohio Parks, Ohio officials have blocked or helped stop more than 5.3 gigawatts of wind and solar projects over the past 12 years. That is a large amount of electricity. It could have helped meet rising demand, reduce pressure on bills, and cut pollution from fossil fuel plants.
The timing matters. Ohio is facing higher electricity costs. It is also seeing more proposed data centers, which require huge amounts of power. When demand rises and supply is limited, prices usually move in one direction: up.
What Ohio Lost
The blocked clean energy projects were not small side projects. They included major wind and solar developments that could have added meaningful supply to the grid.
Key points from the analysis:
- More than 5.3 gigawatts of wind and solar projects have been thwarted in Ohio.
- A 2014 state law more than doubled property-line setback rules for wind turbines.
- That wind law effectively blocked more than 3.3 gigawatts of utility-scale wind projects.
- Since 2021, the Ohio Power Siting Board has rejected eight solar installations.
- Those eight rejected projects alone represented more than 1.1 gigawatts of solar generation.
- Developers withdrew five other applications that would have added about 1 gigawatt after local opposition or negative staff recommendations made approval unlikely.
The Ohio Power Siting Board has also approved many solar projects. A spokesperson said the board has approved 49 solar projects with a total nameplate capacity of 9,250 megawatts. But only about one-third of those approvals were for applications filed after Senate Bill 52 took effect.
That law changed the game.
Senate Bill 52 Changed Local Power
In 2021, Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 52. The law gives Ohio counties the power to ban new solar projects above 50 megawatts and wind farms that qualify as “economically significant,” meaning those able to produce more than 5 megawatts of electricity.
The law does not give counties the same power to ban fossil fuel or nuclear power plants.
That difference matters. It means renewable energy faces a special political hurdle that other power sources do not face in the same way.
Projects already in the PJM Interconnection queue are not subject to outright county bans under SB 52. But they still face the state siting process. Since 2021, the Ohio Power Siting Board has rejected multiple solar projects, often citing local government opposition.
That has made Ohio one of the harder states for clean energy developers.
Why Bills Are Part of the Story
This is not only an environmental issue. It is also a consumer issue.
Wind and solar power have no fuel cost. Once the projects are built, they can produce electricity at very low marginal cost. That puts pressure on more expensive power sources. It can also reduce the influence of fuel price swings, especially for coal and gas.
Ohio currently gets about 7.5% of its electricity from wind and solar, based on 2025 federal data cited by Canary Media. By comparison, coal and gas provide about 80.6%.
That mix leaves Ohio exposed. When fuel prices rise, customers feel it.
More clean energy would not solve every price problem. Electricity bills include many parts, including transmission, distribution, capacity costs, and market rules. But more low-cost generation can help. It adds supply. It creates competition. It gives the grid more options.
And right now, options are valuable.
Data Centers Are Raising the Stakes
Ohio’s power demand is expected to grow as more data centers are proposed. These facilities need constant electricity. They can create jobs and tax revenue, but they also create stress on the power system.
If the state blocks fast-to-build energy sources, it makes the supply problem harder.
Wind and solar projects can often come online faster than large fossil fuel or nuclear plants. That speed is important when demand is rising now, not ten years from now.
This is the basic math: Ohio needs more power. It has blocked a lot of power. Residents may pay more because of that.
Pollution Costs Are Also Real
The lost wind and solar generation would also have reduced pollution.
Ben King of Rhodium Group estimated that the blocked clean energy projects likely would have displaced about 7.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power plants. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas driving human-caused climate change.
The avoided pollution would not stop there. The projects could also have reduced pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which can harm health.
Ohio has also weakened energy-efficiency efforts. House Bill 6 eliminated utility energy-efficiency requirements after 2020. A separate analysis by Mike Specian of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy found that continued utility savings programs could have produced up to 70 terawatt-hours in cumulative savings after 2020.
That is not abstract. Efficiency lowers demand. Lower demand can reduce costs. It can also delay or avoid the need for more expensive power infrastructure.
The Next Policy Fight
Ohio lawmakers may go further.
Senate Bill 294, reported out of the Senate Energy Committee on June 2, would strengthen the state’s preference for natural gas and nuclear power. It could also make it harder for solar and wind projects to get regulatory approval.
That would push Ohio deeper into the same pattern: limit cheaper clean energy, then deal with higher demand and higher costs later.
Bottom Line
Ohio has blocked a lot of wind and solar. The state still has approved clean energy projects, but the overall policy direction has been clear: more barriers, more local veto power, and more uncertainty for developers.
Residents are left with the result.
Less clean energy means fewer power choices. It can mean more pollution. It can mean higher exposure to fuel prices. And when demand from data centers and other users rises, the lack of new supply becomes more painful.
The issue is simple: Ohio needs electricity. Wind and solar can provide it. But state policy has made many projects harder to build.
That choice has a price.
Jonas Muthoni is Editor-in-Chief of Microgrid Media, where he oversees reporting and analysis on microgrids, energy storage, distributed energy resources, data center power demand, grid modernization, resilience, renewable energy, and electricity policy and markets. His work focuses on the infrastructure, technologies, and regulatory developments reshaping the power system.
As Editor-in-Chief, Jonas leads Microgrid Media’s editorial strategy and standards, including story selection, source verification, technical accuracy, and the development of original reporting and analysis. His coverage draws on regulatory filings, government records, utility and company disclosures, technical documentation, and independent industry sources to explain significant developments across the evolving energy system.
