February 18, 2025
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All systems go for solar farm near Essex

By Christopher Breach
Three solar farms in Kankakee County constructed by Clearway Energy Group have 2 megawatts of capacity, which is enough to power approximately 350 homes. A $500-million project by Heritage Prairie in Essex will have 300-megawatt capacity.

Three solar farms in Kankakee County constructed by Clearway Energy Group have 2 megawatts of capacity, which is enough to power approximately 350 homes. A $500-million project by Heritage Prairie in Essex will have 300-megawatt capacity. (Provided by Clearway Energy Grou)

The expansive solar farm planned in western Kankakee County near Essex is still a go.

The Heritage Prairie Renewable solar farm, which will be built on 3,700 acres of leased farmland, was approved by the Kankakee County Board at a Nov. 9, 2022, meeting.

Heritage Prairie is a joint venture of Pattern Energy and Repsol Renewables North America, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, Calif., with an operations center in Houston, Texas.

“The Heritage Prairie project is still moving forward,” said Matt Dallas, a spokesman for Pattern Energy. “The project is in the final stages of development, and [we] will be seeking building permits in the coming months.”

There was some misinformation circulating on social media that the company had decided not to go forward with the project in Essex, but those reports were about another solar farm of similar size in Will County near Custer Park.

“Nothing has changed with any of it,” said Delbert Skimmerhorn, director of planning and GIS for Kankakee County.

“I saw the talks on that on social media,” County Board Chairman Matthew Alexander-Hildebrand said. “From us, they have not told us they are backing out, so that’s not true.”

Pattern Energy will be getting building, storm water and state permits for the project. Acquiring these permits from the state can be a lengthy process.

Previously, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a special use permit on Oct. 6, 2022, by a 5-0 vote that Pattern Energy needed for the project. The Planning and Zoning Committee overwhelmingly approved the permit on Oct. 19. 2022.

Heritage Prairie is a $500 million project, and the 300-megawatt solar farm’s footprint will take up 1,600 acres of the total farmland. It’s estimated to provide more than 150 full-time local construction jobs. After construction, two full-time employees will be dedicated to the solar farm for the 30- to 35-year life of the project.

Construction was scheduled to begin in the latter part of 2024, but the timeline has changed.

Dallas said construction work will begin on the Essex substation (the point of interconnect for wind and solar) in the first half of 2025.

The Heritage Prairie solar farm site is ideal because of its proximity to ComEd electric transmission infrastructure.

The anticipated start of construction for the solar portion of the project is October 2025, which would begin with road improvements, Dallas said. The commercial operation date for the solar farm is late 2027.

Over the life of the project, more than $44 million in property tax revenue will be generated to the taxing jurisdictions within its large footprint and approximately $23 million in property taxes to Herscher and Reed-Custer school districts, the company said.

A single megawatt of solar power has the capacity to produce electricity that equates to about the same amount of electricity consumed by 164 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.