Solar Farms

Yorkville Planning and Zoning Commission members heard a presentation from petitioners and held a public hearing for a third solar farm in the city at their April 10 meeting.

The Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to make a recommendation Wednesday evening regarding a proposed 5-megawatt commercial solar facility in Palmyra Township.

The Sterling City Council agreed Monday not to object to a request for a special-use permit for a 5-megawatt solar farm just west of city limits, at Freeport and Science Ridge roads.

Known as the Alexander-Johnson Farm Solar Project, the acreage is at 47W829 Route 38, Maple Park, just east of Meredith Road.

Lee County Board members voted 11-3-3 to issue the special use permit to Hexagon Energy LLC, a Virginia-based company doing business in Illinois as Steward Creek Solar LLC, for Phase 2 of a 1,200-megawatt commercial solar energy facility in Alto and Willow Creek townships.

Over the objections of the city of Sterling, the Whiteside County Board approved issuing a special-use permit to build a 5-megawatt solar farm at Locust Street/state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road.

Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals members unanimously voted to recommend the Lee County Board approve Hexagon Energy LLC’s petition to be allowed to build Phase 2 of Steward Creek, a 1,200-megawatt commercial solar energy facility.

Chicago-based solar company Nexamp is proposing the development of Corneils Road Solar, LLC, a community solar farm just north of Yorkville city limits.

The first of two public hearings before the Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals regarding what could be the largest solar facility in Illinois is set for 6 p.m. Feb. 20.

A company seeking to build two of 2-megawatt Solar Gardens in Shabbona Township recently got the projects approved by the DeKalb County Board, but not everyone was onboard.

A 5-megawatt solar farm at Locust Street/state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road would not be compatible with Sterling's future industrial plans for that area, and so the City Council is submitting a letter of objection to the project.

A company with multiple community solar projects in Illinois and five other states is asking to build a 5-megawatt solar farm in a field at Locust Street/state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road, just outside Sterling’s northern city limit.

The Nexamp solar farm near Harvard planted native seeds to restore prairie land while creating solar energy.

The public is invited to weigh in Thursday on a proposal to build a solar garden in Squaw Grove Township in rural southern DeKalb County.

McHenry County grapples with difficulty of not being able to regulate any new solar farms because of new Illinois law.