Ohio Village Installs 9,222 Solar Panels on Reservoir, Boosting State's Solar Capacity
Monroeville, Ohio, a village with approximately 1,300 residents, has significantly expanded its solar energy generation by installing 9,222 solar panels on its reservoir. This new array, mounted across three floating platforms, adds 6 megawatts of capacity to the local distribution grid. The installation, developed by D3Energy and owned by Gardner Capital, is Ohio's largest floating solar project and ranks among the top five in the United States. By utilizing about 12 acres of the reservoir surface, the project avoids the need for approximately 30 acres of land that a comparable ground-mounted system would require. This approach is particularly notable in Ohio, where a 2021 law has allowed about one-third of the state's 88 counties to restrict large solar developments. This new floating array complements Monroeville's existing 4-megawatt ground-mounted facility, which has been operational since 2017, resulting in the village now possessing about 13 times Ohio's per-person solar capacity.
