Illinois put community solar on a 150-year-old coal mine

An old coal mine in Illinois is now generating community solar power for hundreds of households and businesses.

Nexamp and TurningPoint Energy have completed two community solar projects on a reclaimed coal mine site in Woodford County, Illinois. The projects turn land that once produced coal from the Colchester Coal Seam from the 1870s to the 1940s into a new source of electricity for the local grid.

The former mine site is certified as a brownfield under Illinois Shines, the state’s solar incentive program. That means the projects qualify for incentives to put previously disturbed land back into productive use. They’re also the first Illinois Shines community solar projects developed in Woodford County.

TurningPoint Energy developed the projects, while Nexamp built, owns, and operates them. The Minonk solar farms are the companies’ first collaboration in Illinois.

Together, the solar farms can generate 9.8 megawatts of power and use nearly 17,000 solar panels spread across roughly 40 acres. The electricity flows directly to ComEd’s grid, and Nexamp says all the solar modules were manufactured in the US.