Solar Update: Watershed Committee

Introduction

Green Garden Township is nestled along the meandering headwaters of Forked Creek and Prairie Creek, two tributaries of the Kankakee River.  Over the past 75 years, our Township has transformed into a rural-residential community of 3850 residents living on family farms, equestrian farmettes, estates and 29 custom-home subdivisions, with lots 5 acres or less.  Also, many fields are owned by land investors, who rely on local rental farmers for crop production.  

Today, our Township finds itself in the middle of a national energy debate.  A current snapshot of Illinois reveals most of our power comes from reliable, on-demand natural gas (38%), coal (38%), and nuclear (13%).  These industries provide year-round power and are introducing cleaner, safer and more efficient technologies for our power grid.  Despite solar energy offering only 4% of Illinois power, new laws grant the solar industry sweeping control over land use that violate established zoning standards and erase authority of local officials.  As a result, every cornfield is now vulnerable to industrial solar sprawl, putting at risk our home and property values and quality of life.

Illinois Solar Reality

According to solar industry data, Illinois is ranked the 49th worst State in America for solar facilities.  Cloudy weather for almost half the year drops solar energy production by 50%.  In Winter, Illinois averages only 2.47 peak hours of sun a day.

Solar facilities are industrial uses.  Solar panels and storage batteries contain toxic heavy metals that can contaminate the environment from warping and breakage from year-round exposure to extreme Illinois weather conditions and from fires that can spread airborne toxins for miles. 

Soil and groundwater are likewise at risk from the millions of zinc-galvanized steel posts driven 8 feet into the ground to support solar panel arrays.  Galvanic corrosion, the leaching of zinc from these posts into the soil profile, is a known harm exacerbated in hydric soils like those found in our Forked and Prairie Creek watersheds.  Zinc toxicity impairs a plant's ability to absorb essential trace minerals, rendering prime farmland incapable of sustainable crop production after solar utilities are removed.

State Privilege

Illinois solar law 55 ILCS 5/5-12020 grants anyone objecting to a solar project a public hearing.  But, as long as the solar developer meets minimum standards, a County Board "shall" approve the solar facility.  Unincorporated areas only receive a 50' setback of solar panels and batteries from rural backyards.  Privacy berms cannot be required.  A new 2026 law makes ComEd customers pay for the storage batteries that solar companies will profit from.

The Will County Board has approved 57 solar facilities and denied 10 solar projects.  Another 17 projects were withdrawn during the zoning process, often due to strong public opposition.  Whether Will County has the "right" to reject a solar project is an issue of ongoing litigation.

Will County Favors

Will County passed its own solar ordinance 155-9.245 granting the solar industry even more privileges, allowing industrial solar use on farmland on both contiguous (connected) and non-contiguous (separated) properties.  A public interest lawsuit will be filed to challenge this legal fiction and halt any mega solar project during judicial review.

Scope of Project

Earthrise, a corporation from the Washington DC beltway, began soliciting local solar leases in 2023, without notice to officials.  Its 600 MW mega scattered-site solar project (ZC-25-129) includes 100 parcels, totaling over 6000 acres that span Green Garden, Manhattan and Wilton Townships (see Map below).  Over 1.5 million solar panels will be installed.  More than 2/3 of the parties involved, mainly land investors, do not live in the Township where land is being leased.

Earthrise agreements on another 5,125 acres could expand the project from southern Frankfort twenty miles to the banks of the Kankakee River.  The six Will County townships targeted by Earthrise comprise the last rural district between the dormant 5800-acre third airport and the 4000-acre, litigation-bound Northpoint industrial site.  This Earthrise project, whether by design or consequence, will industrialize the region.

Power Trip

Moreover, Earthrise also bought the Lincoln Generating Facility in Manhattan, a highly-efficient natural gas plant that provides for on-demand, peak energy needs (see Map below, red circle denotes location).  Last year, the PJM Grid offered the new owner Earthrise the option to upgrade its peaker plant to full energy production of 700 MW.  Earthrise declined.  Instead, Earthrise wants to consume 6000 acres of prime farmland with solar panels, while 700 MW of reliable energy are locally available on a 30-acre footprint.

Data Center Drama

Both the Earthrise mega solar site and the nearby Hillwood mega data center were publicly announced the same week in October 2025.  The controversial Hillwood project, on a sprawling 800-acre site south of the Speedway Racetrack, may be the largest data center in Illinois.  Our FOIA request last November to the City of Joliet for project records resulted in 1300 fully-redacted pages.  Our appeal to the Illinois Attorney General's Office to mandate the release of records is pending.  The two mega sites are likely linked, with Earthrise providing power for Hillwood. 

Incorporation

While the Earthrise mega project is pending, a data center, a 60-acre solar utility and a solar battery facility are now circling uncorporated, vulnerable Green Garden Township like vultures.  If we shift our legal status from unincorporated to incorporated, we can protect our rural community from the irreversible harm of industrialization.  If we do not reassert local control over our land use, our rural area and our quality of life will be lost.  

How You Can Help

Please sign our online petition: