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Montgomery 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 Montgomery County, county seat Hillsboro.
Check land in Montgomery 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 Montgomery County?
The MISO interconnection queue lists 5 proposed projects in Montgomery County (3 solar, 1 solar plus storage, 1 battery storage), about 875 MW in all. 1 has a signed interconnection agreement.
What stands out in Montgomery County
By capacity, solar leads in Montgomery County with 631 MW across 3 projects, followed by battery storage (1 project, 200 MW) and solar paired with storage (1 project, 44 MW). The largest is queue number J3556, a 250 MW solar request in the MISO queue, in study (Phase 2), filed Apr 2024, with a target in-service date of Aug 2028. Of the 5, 4 are still in study and 1 has a signed agreement. All of them are in the MISO queue, which covers the Ameren Illinois side of the state. The requests were filed between Apr 2019 and Apr 2024. Target in-service dates for those not yet under construction span Jun 2021 to Aug 2028; 3 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the table: the queue number is the operator's ID for the request (MISO J-numbers, PJM AE/AF/AG-numbers); operators do not publish developer names in these files.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. 3 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.
| 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J1201MISO · Ameren Illinois · North Coffeen 138kV Substation | Solar + storage | 44 | Agreement signed | Apr 2019 | Jun 2021 date passed; status per the operator |
| J3556MISO · Ameren Illinois · 7COFFEEN - 7PANA 345.0kV | Solar | 250 | In study (Phase 2) | Apr 2024 | Aug 2028 |
| J2607MISO · Ameren Illinois · Redhawk 138 kV - MTEP Project (17976) | Storage | 200 | In study (Phase 2) | Sep 2022 | Jun 2026 date passed; status per the operator |
| J2334MISO · Ameren Illinois · Redhawk | Solar | 195 | In study (Phase 2) | Sep 2022 | Sep 2027 |
| J2937MISO · · 4PANA - 4OAKLEY 138.0kV | Solar | 186 | In study (Phase 2) | Sep 2022 | Jun 2025 date passed; status per the operator |
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 Montgomery County require of a project?
Illinois law sets the ceiling: Montgomery 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: Montgomery County posts its Ordinance for Solar Energy Farm and Solar Garden Installations in Unincorporated Montgomery County, originally adopted April 10, 2018, with the most recent revision dated October 14, 2025. (Montgomery County solar ordinance (revised Oct. 14, 2025))
State siting standardsFarmland agreement (AIMA)Property taxes
Who to contact in Montgomery 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 Hillsboro. A drainage district, if the land is in one, must receive the developer's drainage plan.
Montgomery County websiteSupervisor of assessmentsCounty engineer and highways
Solar for homes and businesses in Montgomery 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 Montgomery 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).