Paulding County wind farm, other projects approved

A wind farm with up to 37 turbines planned for northwestern Ohio received approval from state regulators Thursday.

The Ohio Power Siting Board signed off on Timber Road IV Wind Farm near Payne in Paulding County.

Paulding Wind Farm IV expects to begin construction on the project this spring and put the wind farm in service before the end of the year.

The 37 turbines will have total generating capacity of 125 megawatts. One megawatt can power roughly 1,000 homes.

The project is near three other wind farms already operating in Paulding County, located along the Indiana-ohio line. The county is the top producer of windgenerated electricity in Ohio.

Work has started on another big wind project called Scioto Ridge, which will put 72 turbines in Hardin and Logan counties, southeast of Paulding County. That $300 million project is expected to become operational by the end of 2020.

The state also approved the expansion of a solar farm in Brown County in southern Ohio, called Hillcrest Solar I, from 125 megawatts to 200 megawatts.

Finally, the board approved construction of four American Electric Power Ohio transmission lines across the state designed to upgrade service and improve reliability of the transmission system.

The lines are in Belmont County in eastern Ohio and Brown and Jackson counties in southern Ohio.