{"id":82189,"date":"2025-05-02T16:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T20:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82189"},"modified":"2025-05-02T16:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T20:44:10","slug":"biggest-solar-farm-east-of-the-mississippi-is-now-powering-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82189","title":{"rendered":"The biggest solar farm east of the Mississippi is now powering Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\tPhoto: Swift Current Energy\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Swift Current Energy\u2019s 800-megawatt (MW) Double Black Diamond Solar<\/a> is up and running about 30 miles west of Springfield. It\u2019s now the largest operating solar farm east of the Mississippi, and it\u2019s set to make a serious dent in emissions while delivering clean energy to major customers, including the City of Chicago.<\/p>\n

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Chicago is sourcing around 70% of the power for its municipal operations from Double Black Diamond. That includes big energy users like O\u2019Hare and Midway airports. Other customers buying power from the solar farm include CVS Health, Loyola University Chicago, PPG, State Farm, TransUnion, and Cook County, all through the energy company Constellation NewEnergy.<\/p>\n

This project has been a long time coming \u2013 Swift Current started development in 2018 and leaned into a growing US supply chain. The company sourced most of its 1.6 million solar panels from First Solar\u2019s Ohio factories, and the racking came from Nextracker, which used US-made steel and did some of the manufacturing in Chicago. Construction created around 500 jobs.<\/p>\n

Double Black Diamond also met Illinois\u2019 Clean and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) standards for labor and hiring, creating job opportunities for a broader group of workers. Over its lifetime, the solar farm is expected to generate $100 million in local tax revenue for Sangamon and Morgan counties. About 60% of that will go toward public schools, with the rest helping fund public safety, infrastructure, and community programs. Swift Current is also putting $10 million into community benefit programs, including school districts and local governments.<\/p>\n

\tAdvertisement – scroll for more content<\/span><\/p>\n

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called the project \u201ca powerful example of why we believe in the green economy.\u201d He said the solar farm helps Chicago cut emissions, supports good union jobs, and lowers energy costs for city operations.<\/p>\n

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Read more:<\/strong> Home solar prices just hit record lows \u2013 and storage is even cheaper<\/a><\/p>\n

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To limit power outages and make your home more resilient, consider going solar with a battery storage system. In order to find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out<\/em> <\/em>EnergySage<\/em><\/a>, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it\u2019s free to use and you won\u2019t get sales calls until you select an installer and you share your phone number with them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you\u2019ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started<\/em> <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. \u2013trusted affiliate link*<\/em><\/p>\n

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FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.<\/em> More.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Swift Current Energy Swift Current Energy\u2019s 800-megawatt (MW) Double Black Diamond Solar is up and running about 30 miles west of Springfield. It\u2019s now the largest operating solar farm east of the Mississippi, and it\u2019s set to make a serious dent in emissions while delivering clean energy to major customers, including the City of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}