Whiteside County’s Prairie Hill Landfill will soon be home to a solar farm. The County Board unanimously approved a land lease to IPS Energy for development of a solar farm, on the cap of the landfill’s closed portion. The solar farm could develop into a ten mega-watt facility. Over the course of the lease, there is the potential for the County to take in over $5,200,000 in lease payments, if the solar farm reaches a ten mega-watt output.
The County is one of many communities to take advantage of Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act (2016), which mandates that 25 percent of ComEd’s and Ameren’s power come from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by 2025.
“A solar farm requires a lot of area, and a closed landfill makes an excellent site for one. We are excited to create additional, long-term value for the closed landfill, by leasing the closed landfill cap to a solar farm that will be supplying clean energy to the area’s residents and businesses,” said Jim Duffy, Whiteside County Board Chair.
Gary Camarano, Whiteside County Economic Development Director, said, “It’s almost poetic that the landfill, a highly visible reminder of the human impact on our environment, will be home to a solar farm, that will generate clean, renewable energy. We are transforming our trash piles into renewable energy treasure with a planned solar farm at the closed landfill.”
The terms of the lease provide for a 25-year term (with two possible five-year extensions) with a lease rate of $10,000 per mega-watt acre. It takes approximately eight acres to produce a mega-watt. There is a 2% annual increase in the lease rate.