The sun sets over the Wildcat wind farm north of Elwood, Indiana, in this file photo. E.ON Climate and Renewables built the facility in Madison and Tipton counties.
After five years, Altamont’s solar power array has met Illinois Municipal Electric Agency’s prediction of the amount of power it would produce.
The sun sets over the Wildcat wind farm north of Elwood, Indiana, in this file photo. E.ON Climate and Renewables built the facility in Madison and Tipton counties.
After five years, Altamont’s solar power array has met Illinois Municipal Electric Agency’s prediction of the amount of power it would produce.
Today, CNHI and the Tribune-Star continue a series looking at green energy in the United States as part of Great Green Debate.
Amid a growing need for energy access across the nation, more options are coming online, while old standbys are also being boosted.
The series looks at the global shift to renewable energy and America’s growing need, how green energy works and how clean it is. It also looks at the ongoing conflict surrounding land development for green energy projects and the loss of greenspace, along with how we can use less energy, regardless of how it supplied.
Last year, a national renewable energy company requested a permit to build a 180-megawatt solar installation on more than 1,400 acres in Vermilion County, Illinois, that could power around 160,000 homes a year.
The Vermilion County Board responded in June 2024 by promptly denying the Mural Energy project proposed by REV Renewables, which has built 27 solar arrays across the U.S.
The company filed a lawsuit against the county, saying the action was illegal. In August, over a year later, the project received its permit — but not from the board.
It was issued by a judge through a court order.
A judge ruled Illinois House Bill 4412, passed by lawmakers in 2023, allows county boards to vote on permits, but bans local governments from outright prohibiting wind and solar projects.
The law established statewide siting, zoning and setback standards for commercial-size wind and solar projects, and local county ordinances can’t be more restrictive than the state-level setback standards.
Before the legislation, Illinois counties had total authority on siting and zoning clean-energy projects.
Following a 2021 Illinois law that invested millions to incentivize development and pledged to make Illinois 100% carbon free by 2050, many counties had ramped up restrictions or implemented outright bans on solar and wind.
Two years later, state lawmakers responded by approving the siting law to stop local officials from holding up projects that would help Illinois reach its clean-energy goals, explained Sarah Fox, a Marquette University Law School associate professor who researches environmental policy and land use.
“Any county that potentially thought these wind or solar farms might be coming, a ban was probably something on the table to discuss,” she said. “Which is why we see the state getting involved here.”
Officials in rural counties like Vermilion, where energy companies are aggressively pursuing large-scale projects, have pushed back hard against the state overriding their authority, explained Jeff Danielson, vice president of advocacy of the Clean Grid Alliance.
Some have attempted to circumvent state control by charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for siting permits. In Ogle County, officials in February voted to increase the application fee for commercial solar and wind projects from a maximum of $25,000 to a fixed cost of $100,000.
Other counties have tried to kill projects through means such as assessing fees through road-use agreements to put financial strain on developers, according to Danielson.
“There are a handful of counties where it was clear that they were not going to honor the spirit of the law,” he said.
Now, after approving two bills aimed directly at bolstering clean energy in Illinois, legislators in October passed a third that further encourages development and makes it harder than ever for counties to oppose solar and wind projects.
The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act is sweeping legislation that sets new policy for the state’s entire energy sector, reducing utility rate hikes, strengthening the state’s power grid and expanding renewable energy sources.
It also includes multiple provisions that expedite solar and wind projects to avoid lengthy lawsuits that can hold up construction for years.
That includes establishing a process for siting disputes between counties and developers. Instead of heading to a courtroom for traditional litigation, siting decisions are now adjudicated by an administrative law judge.
The judge conducts a streamlined hearing and issues a non-binding report on whether the project complies with the state’s siting law. That report is sent to the Illinois Commerce Commission, which makes the final determination and issues a siting certificate if the project meets requirements.
The new process aims to reduce legal costs while allowing local officials to provide input and force a project to be reviewed if they think it violates state law, explained Danielson with the Clean Grid Alliance.
The act also imposes a new “reasonableness” requirement for siting and building permit application fees. For wind and solar projects, siting fees can’t exceed $125,000 and building permit fees max out at $75,000.
Local governments can also now only charge the “reasonable” costs of improving and repairing roadways used for construction. County officials are barred from imposing fees unrelated to the project.
The law also updates siting and construction requirements for wind and solar projects that aim to protect landowners and neighbors from unwanted side effects.
Wind turbines must be sited so that shadow flicker doesn’t exceed 30 hours per year for any occupied community building or nearby residence. To reduce glare, solar panels can’t exceed 20 feet in height. And developers must submit a farmland drainage restoration plan to be completed when construction is finished.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has yet to sign the legislation, but he has pledged to do so.
In total, the provisions create unified, statewide siting requirements that make it crystal clear how projects can be developed in Illinois, explained Danielson. For solar-and-wind companies, that consistency makes the state an attractive place to build, he said.
“We think that the sum total of the actions in the omnibus energy bill will mean that Illinois has one of the most certain permit processes of any state in the Midwest,” Danielson added.
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