Wind & Solar Leasing in Whiteside County, IL: Farms & Rules

Whiteside County has real wind power on the ground since 2019, more wind and a large solar project moving through development now, and a county board that found out the hard way how little discretion it has to turn down a compliant solar application. If you've been offered a lease, are buying land already under one, or are near a project, here's what's actually happening and what governs it.

This page covers what's specific to Whiteside County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

Green River Wind Farm: 74 turbines, operating since 2019

Green River Wind Farm has been generating power since the end of 2019: 74 G126-2.625 MW turbines rated at 194 MW combined, spread across roughly 13,000 acres in Lee, Whiteside, and Bureau Counties. Developed by Geronimo Energy and now operating under National Grid Renewables, the project sells its output through a mix of virtual power purchase agreements with corporate buyers -- including Apple and Akamai Technologies -- and a direct power purchase agreement with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, which alone secured 50 MW of the project's capacity.

Because Green River spans three counties, a parcel's actual exposure to the project (turbines, access roads, collector lines, or just a recorded setback easement on adjacent land) can vary a lot depending on exactly where it sits relative to the Whiteside County portion. If you're buying land here, pull the parcel's recorded documents at the Whiteside County Recorder's office and ask specifically whether any wind lease, easement, or collector-line agreement is recorded against it -- these don't always show up in a standard title-search summary and don't necessarily change how the surface looks or is farmed day to day.

A second wind project and a major solar project, both still in development

Gipper Wind Farm, developed by Scout Clean Energy, was in pre-construction as of this research pass: 75 turbines planned at 212 MW, with a reported project cost around $323 million. Scout Clean Energy is separately developing the companion Gipper Solar Farm -- a considerably larger 255 MW project on roughly 2,000 acres of locally owned land spanning both Whiteside and Rock Island Counties, representing an estimated $380 million total investment and targeting completion around September 2029. Together, the developer describes enough capacity to power more than 40,000 Illinois homes.

If you're evaluating land anywhere near either project's mapped footprint, ask the Whiteside County Building & Zoning Department directly for the current project boundary and lease status -- both projects were still moving through development as of this research pass, and specific parcel-level details (which landowners have signed leases, exact turbine or panel siting) are not fully public record until construction plans are finalized.

The lawsuit that shows how little discretion the county actually has

In October 2024, Prataria Solar LLC sued Whiteside County after the County Board twice denied its special-use permit application for a comparatively modest, 5-megawatt solar farm on about 40 acres of a 70-acre parcel near Morrison. The lawsuit's core argument: Public Act 102-1123 (signed January 27, 2023) gives counties the ability to set standards for commercial solar-energy facilities, but those standards cannot be more restrictive than what the state itself allows -- and the county's two denials, the suit alleged, crossed that line. Whiteside County had already amended its own zoning ordinance in May 2023 to bring it into compliance with the new state law, within the 120-day window the law required, but the lawsuit argued the county's actual permitting decisions still exceeded what that amended ordinance -- and the state law behind it -- permitted.

The Whiteside County Board voted to settle in early 2025, agreeing to grant Prataria Solar's special-use permit. The practical lesson for anyone near a pending wind or solar application in Whiteside County: the county board's ability to simply say no to a project that otherwise complies with the state's siting standards is narrower than a board's own denial vote might suggest. If you own land near a project the county has denied, or one still working through the approval process, that denial is not necessarily the final word -- ask the county directly about the status of any related appeal, reconsideration, or litigation before assuming a rejected project is permanently dead.

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

If you're the landowner being approached about a new lease for Gipper Wind, Gipper Solar, or a smaller project like Prataria's: understand that Whiteside County's zoning ordinance (bounded by the PA 102-1123 statewide ceiling, and now tested in court) sets the regulatory floor on setbacks and decommissioning, not the lease's financial terms. Payment structure and escalation, term length and renewal options, easement scope (turbine or panel footprint only, or also access roads, collector-line corridors, and setback buffers on surrounding acreage you'd otherwise farm normally), and who bears decommissioning cost if the developer becomes insolvent are all matters of private contract -- worth reviewing with an attorney experienced in wind and solar leases before signing.

If you're buying land already subject to a recorded wind or solar lease or easement -- tied to Green River, Gipper Wind, or Gipper Solar -- pull the actual recorded document from the Whiteside County Recorder rather than relying on a listing summary. Confirm what portion of the parcel is actually restricted, whether the lease/easement transfers automatically to you as the new owner (most wind and solar leases are structured to run with the land), what ongoing payments (if any) you'd be entitled to, and whether financial security for eventual decommissioning is actually in place for that specific project.

Wind and Solar Energy Leasing in Whiteside County, Illinois

Green River Wind Farm: 74 turbines, operating since 2019

A second wind project and a major solar project, both still in development

The lawsuit that shows how little discretion the county actually has

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

Ready to talk to someone who knows land?