PAULDING — A new landmark in Ohio’s clean‑energy progress is rising beside the Paulding County Jail, where steel racking now marks the early stages of the state’s first solar‑powered correctional facility.
Within weeks, the frames will hold a 385‑kilowatt solar array designed to meet the jail’s round‑the‑clock energy demands. Combined with a 60‑kilowatt system being installed at the county’s McDonald Pike facility, the project is expected to generate approximately 620,000 kilowatt‑hours of electricity each year — enough to power about 55 average Ohio homes.
County officials say the initiative positions Paulding County ahead of Ohio’s largest urban centers. “Not Franklin County. Not Cuyahoga County. Paulding County got there first,” they noted, emphasizing the significance of a small rural county leading the state in on‑site renewable energy at a jail…