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.

The projects are also notable because they’re among the first on ComEd’s system to use Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS), software that helps utilities manage distributed energy resources such as solar in real time. The technology can help balance electricity demand and make it easier to bring more renewable energy onto the grid while maintaining reliability.

The projects are nearly fully subscribed, with more than 650 participants signed up. One serves about 450 residential customers, while the second serves around 200 low-income households, helping expand access to community solar savings.

Two large institutions, Rush University Medical Center and the College of DuPage, are also subscribers. Together, they account for 40% of the projects’ electricity offtake, providing a stable customer base that helps support broader community participation.

“This is exactly the kind of project we aspire to deliver with our partners and our customers,” said Nexamp CEO Zaid Ashai. “By turning a former coal mine into a pair of community solar farms, we are helping hundreds of subscribers reduce their energy costs today while strengthening their energy security for the long term.

“By pairing that affordability with US-manufactured equipment and advanced grid tools like DERMS, these Minonk projects not only put clean power within reach for households and institutions, they also show how community solar can make the grid smarter, more resilient, and better prepared for Illinois’ clean energy future.”

Read more: The biggest solar farm east of the Mississippi is now powering Chicago

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