Some DeKalb County residents worried about new proposed solar project

SYCAMORE – Concerns over a large-scale solar farm spurred multiple residents to speak up during a recent DeKalb County Board meeting, but the project causing anxiety hasn’t yet been put to a vote.

Five people told the DeKalb County Board that they recently received a letter from Leeward Renewable Energy outlining the business’s intentions to build a solar farm on thousands of acres of land near their homes in Pierce Township.

DeKalb County resident Bradley James said he worries about 2,000 acres of land near his home could be covered in solar panels.

“We still have people here in America, and we have people around the world who are going hungry, and we’re talking about putting a solar farm on all this farm ground,” James said. “We need the crops that consume [carbon dioxide] and release oxygen.”

Barry Mandel, James’ neighbor, said he thinks the land would generate more money from farming than it would through solar energy production.

“Just look at the history of DeKalb County,” Mandel said. “We are agriculture. It’s the best land in the world.”

He also argued that a farmer is more likely to spend the revenue from his profit in the local community.

Leeward Renewable Energy, the company contacting residents about the project, is based out of Dallas, Texas, but has a Chicago office in Suite 3000 at 200 S. Wacker Drive.

The company was founded in Texas in 2003 and owns and operates 30 wind, solar and energy storage projects, according to Leeward’s website. The energy company’s storage projects hold 3 gigawatts of energy, with plans to grow to 8 gigawatts by 2028.

All five people who spoke on the matter said they opposed the solar farm and hope to express their opinions to county officials at a public hearing on the proposed development. As of Wednesday, a week after the DeKalb County Board meeting, no public hearing for the project has been posted.

Although the prospective solar energy project still is in its infancy, other solar projects are getting a thumbs-up from the County Board.

A special-use permit request for a 4.99-megawatt commercial solar energy system in Franklin Township was approved by the board May 21. That solar project will take up about 30 acres of a 40-acre property near the corner of Scout Road and Lost Acre Lane.

In a vote Oct. 16, the County Board greenlit plans for CS Clare LLC to build a 4.2-megawatt commercial solar energy system on 40.6 acres of an 80-acre property in Mayfield Township.

In August, a 5-megawatt commercial solar energy system on 35.5 acres of a 153.45-acre property in DeKalb Township also got County Board approval.

Other solar energy projects received approval – and scrutiny – from the County Board in recent years.

Although none of the above solar projects have individually taken up thousands of acres of land in DeKalb County, hundreds of acres of land have received county approval for solar development in recent years.

Roberta Diveley, a lifelong DeKalb County resident, said her home would be affected by the prospective Leeward solar panel project. She said she worries that solar panels could negatively affect the land they’re installed on.

“What will happen if they break from severe weather?” Diveley said. “Leeward says they will repair them, but what does it do to the environment?”