Home › Illinois › Franklin County
Franklin County, Illinois: solar, wind, and storage projects and permits
Proposed projects, county offices, and the state rules for a solar, wind, or battery storage project in Franklin County, county seat Benton.
Check land in Franklin CountyOpens the land report with the map on the county; click a spot for its flood, wetland, habitat, line-distance and parcel check.
What energy projects are proposed in Franklin County?
The MISO interconnection queue lists 2 proposed projects in Franklin County (2 battery storage), about 500 MW in all. 0 have a signed interconnection agreement.
What stands out in Franklin County
By capacity, battery storage leads in Franklin County with 500 MW across 2 projects. The largest is queue number J2647, a 300 MW battery storage request in the MISO queue, in study (Phase 2), filed Sep 2022, with a target in-service date of Feb 2028. Of the 2, 2 are still in study. All of them are in the MISO queue, which covers the Ameren Illinois side of the state. The requests were filed between Sep 2022 and Apr 2024.
A listing means a developer asked the grid operator to study connecting a project; many are never built, and the status column says where each one stands.
Reading the table: the queue number is the operator's ID for the request (MISO J-numbers, PJM AE/AF/AG-numbers); operators do not publish developer names in these files. Connection is the transmission owner and, where listed, the substation or line; "Other_" is the operator's own placeholder. In study (Phase 1/2) are MISO's definitive-planning study phases; "moved to TC1" means a PJM request was carried into Transition Cycle 1; "CIR Increase" is a request to add capacity rights to an existing project; "LRTP" names a MISO long-range transmission project. For PJM rows, MW is the figure in the megawatt column of PJM's public queue export; PJM also tracks maximum facility output and capacity rights separately, so a project's study documents can show a different number.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
| Queue number and connection | Type | MW | Stage | Requested | Target in-service iThe in-service date the developer gave the grid operator. Developers set and change it, many projects slip, and some are never built. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J2647MISO · Ameren Illinois · West Frankfort East 345 kV (7E W FKFT) | Storage | 300 | In study (Phase 2) | Sep 2022 | Feb 2028 |
| J3729MISO · Ameren Illinois · Benton Northwest | Storage | 200 | In study (Phase 2) | Apr 2024 | Feb 2028 |
Sources: MISO generator interconnection queue and PJM interconnection queue, downloaded October 7, 2026; withdrawn and operating projects are left out, and the operators do not publish developer names. What the stages mean.
What can Franklin County require of a project?
Illinois law sets the ceiling: Franklin County must approve a commercial wind or solar project that meets the state standards, must finish its public hearing within 60 days, and may not ban them in agricultural or industrial zones (55 ILCS 5/5-12020); battery storage has had its own statewide standards since June 1, 2026 (55 ILCS 5/5-12024). Land inside a city or village falls under municipal zoning instead.
State siting standardsFarmland agreement (AIMA)Property taxes
Who to contact in Franklin County
Assessment questions go to the supervisor of assessments, special use applications to the zoning office, and road use agreements to the county engineer; the county seat is Benton. A drainage district, if the land is in one, must receive the developer's drainage plan.
Solar for homes and businesses in Franklin County
Illinois net metering, the Illinois Shines incentive, and HOA rules are the same statewide; Ameren Illinois sets the application steps here: Illinois home and business solar rules · utility application links.
State and federal reviews
Illinois EPA stormwater coverage, IDNR's EcoCAT review, historic preservation review, and federal wildlife screening can apply to a site in Franklin County: Illinois agency list.
Get the land report for a spot
Flood zone, wetlands, nearest power line, soils, and more for any point. Parcel acreage fills in automatically in Texas and 26 other states (not Illinois, which has no statewide parcel layer).