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McLean County, Illinois: solar, wind, and storage projects and permits

Queue data downloaded October 7, 2026 · Rules checked October 17, 2026

Proposed projects, county offices, and the state rules for a solar, wind, or battery storage project in McLean County, county seat Bloomington.

Check land in McLean 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 McLean County?

The MISO and PJM interconnection queues list 25 proposed projects in McLean County (5 solar, 13 wind, 6 battery storage, 1 type not listed), about 6,097 MW in all. 2 have a signed interconnection agreement.

What stands out in McLean County

By capacity, wind leads in McLean County with 2,918 MW across 13 projects, followed by solar (5 projects, 1,548 MW) and battery storage (6 projects, 1,496 MW). The largest is queue number AH1-294, a 600 MW solar request in the PJM queue, in study, filed Sep 2021, with a target in-service date of Dec 2025. Of the 25, 23 are still in study and 2 have a signed agreement. 7 are in the MISO queue (Ameren territory) and 18 in PJM (ComEd territory), so McLean County straddles both grids. ComEd is the transmission owner named most often (18 of 25). The requests were filed between Mar 2019 and Sep 2025. Target in-service dates for those not yet under construction span Oct 2022 to Sep 2030; 14 of them have already passed, which means those schedules slipped.

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the table: the queue number is the operator's ID for the request (MISO J-numbers, PJM AE/AF/AG-numbers); operators do not publish developer names in these files.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. 14 target in-service dates below have already passed while the request is still open: operators keep the developer's last reported date until the developer changes it, so a past date means the schedule slipped, not that the project was built.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

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 McLean County require of a project?

Illinois law sets the ceiling: McLean 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.

Recent local action: On December 11, 2025 the McLean County Board unanimously approved special use case SU-25-10 for SV CSG Bloomington, LLC (SunVest), a 134-acre commercial solar facility with a battery energy storage system in Bloomington Township, with amendments requiring documentation that fire safety equipment and response planning meet the updated International Fire Code and International Building Code. (McLean County Board minutes, Dec. 11, 2025; WGLT)

State siting standardsFarmland agreement (AIMA)Property taxes

Who to contact in McLean 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 Bloomington. A drainage district, if the land is in one, must receive the developer's drainage plan.

McLean County website

Solar for homes and businesses in McLean 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 McLean County: Illinois agency list.