Wind and Solar Energy Leasing in Tazewell County, Illinois

What's already built: Rail Splitter Wind Farm

The Rail Splitter Wind Farm, developed and operated by EDP Renewables, has generated power partly in Tazewell County since 2009 -- making it one of the longer-running utility-scale wind projects in this stretch of central Illinois. If you're buying farmland within the existing project footprint, that means any lease or easement recorded against a specific parcel has likely been in place for well over a decade, with payment terms negotiated under conditions very different from today's market.

EDP Renewables North America has separately been reported in early-stage development on an expansion sometimes called Rail Splitter II, targeting the southern part of Tazewell County with roughly 20 to 28 additional turbines and an estimated 100 megawatts of added capacity. As of the most recent reporting found in this research pass, this remained an early-development proposal rather than a project under construction -- treat any specific turbine layout or timeline as preliminary, and confirm current status with the county before treating a nearby parcel as unaffected or affected.

Coyote Road Solar: a 150-megawatt project in the southwest county

RWE's Coyote Road Solar project is a 150-megawatt photovoltaic facility proposed across up to roughly 1,300 acres in Delavan and Malone Townships, in the southwestern part of Tazewell County, with construction reported as targeted for 2025. If you're evaluating land in this area, ask directly with the Tazewell County Community Development Department whether the project has reached final approval, whether construction has actually started, and whether a specific parcel carries a recorded lease or easement tied to the project.

A county board that just said no: the 2026 Mackinaw solar denial

In mid-2026, the Tazewell County Board voted 17-2 to deny a special-use permit for a proposed 5-megawatt community solar farm at the intersection of Lowery and Gresham Roads in Mackinaw Township, after board members cited the site's location and concerns raised by nearby residents. This was a considerably smaller project than Rail Splitter or Coyote Road Solar -- a community-scale facility rather than a utility-scale wind or solar farm -- but the lopsided vote shows the county board is willing to reject a renewable-energy proposal outright rather than approve it as a matter of course.

In the same session, the county board adopted a new, more restrictive countywide renewable-energy ordinance covering wind, solar, and battery-storage siting going forward, along with separate zoning-code updates addressing smaller direct-use solar and wind systems. If you're a landowner who has been approached about a lease, or you're buying land near a proposed project anywhere in Tazewell County, this means the rules that applied to Rail Splitter or Coyote Road Solar may no longer be the rules that apply to a newer proposal -- confirm the county's current, specific ordinance language directly with Community Development rather than relying on an older project's terms as a guide.

The state law limiting what Tazewell County can require

Illinois counties don't have unlimited authority to write their own wind and solar rules, even after a local tightening like the one described above. Public Act 102-1123, signed January 27, 2023, amended 55 ILCS 5/5-12020 of the Counties Code to set statewide siting standards -- covering setbacks, height, decommissioning, and agricultural-land treatment -- that a county's own ordinance cannot exceed in restrictiveness, and it bars counties from imposing outright moratoriums on wind or solar development. Tazewell County's 2026 ordinance update operates within that statewide ceiling, even though it denied one specific project on siting and neighbor-impact grounds.

If you've been offered a lease, or are buying land already under one

If you're the landowner being approached about a wind or solar lease: the county's newly tightened ordinance (bounded by the PA 102-1123 statewide ceiling) sets the regulatory floor, not the lease's financial terms. Payment structure, term length, easement scope, and decommissioning responsibility are all matters of private contract -- have an attorney experienced in Illinois wind and solar leases review any offer, particularly given how recently the county's own rules have changed.

If you're buying land already subject to a recorded Rail Splitter or Coyote Road Solar lease or easement, pull the actual recorded document from the Tazewell County Recorder rather than relying on a listing summary. Confirm what portion of the parcel is actually restricted, whether the agreement transfers automatically to you as the new owner, and whether decommissioning security is on file with the county for that specific project.