Home › Illinois › Stephenson County

Stephenson 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 Stephenson County, county seat Freeport.

Check land in Stephenson 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 Stephenson County?

The PJM interconnection queue lists 12 proposed projects in Stephenson County (5 solar, 1 solar plus storage, 2 wind, 4 battery storage), about 2,412 MW in all. 0 have a signed interconnection agreement.

What stands out in Stephenson County

By capacity, battery storage leads in Stephenson County with 1,049 MW across 4 projects, followed by solar (5 projects, 833 MW) and wind (2 projects, 412 MW). The largest is queue number AH2-375, a 318 MW battery storage request in the PJM queue, in study, filed Mar 2022, with a target in-service date of Dec 2027. Of the 12, 12 are still in study. All of them are in the PJM queue, which covers the ComEd side of the state. The requests were filed between Sep 2019 and Mar 2023. Target in-service dates for those not yet under construction span Sep 2022 to Oct 2028; 5 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the table: the queue number is the operator's ID for the request (MISO J-numbers, PJM AE/AF/AG-numbers); operators do not publish developer names in these files.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. 5 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 Stephenson County require of a project?

Illinois law sets the ceiling: Stephenson 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: Stephenson County's zoning code includes Section 400-23.3, Commercial solar energy facility, and Section 400-23.1, Small wind energy systems, and defines solar power generating plant in Section 400-6. (Stephenson County Code index (eCode360))

State siting standardsFarmland agreement (AIMA)Property taxes

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

Stephenson County websiteZoning and planningCounty engineer and highways

Solar for homes and businesses in Stephenson County

Illinois net metering, the Illinois Shines incentive, and HOA rules are the same statewide; ComEd 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 Stephenson County: Illinois agency list.