When the Joppa Power Plant in Massac County closed in 2022, the county lost a major employer and a significant source of property tax revenue. The plant had generated power for nearly 50 years. Now, a 405-megawatt solar project in neighboring Pulaski County will interconnect to the grid at the Joppa site, using the transmission infrastructure that coal built.
This pattern is playing out across Southern Illinois. As aging coal plants, most built 50+ years ago, reached the end of their operational lives and became too expensive to maintain and operate, counties lost both jobs and the property tax revenue that supported schools, roads, fire protection, and county services.
Solar development is now providing a path forward, bringing stable tax revenue, reduced operating costs for local governments, and business opportunities for local contractors. Across the region, multiple projects are demonstrating how renewable energy can rebuild the tax base that coal once provided.
Property Tax Revenue for Schools and Services
Solar facilities pay property taxes that fund schools, roads, fire protection, and county services. Once built, they generate stable revenue for 25-plus years with no fuel costs or ongoing operational expenses that can make facilities unprofitable.
Two recent projects; the Pulaski Solar project is projected to generate $57 million in property taxes, while the Big Muddy project in Jackson County will receive $12.6 million over the project’s lifetime.
Why projects like these are important is because of how property tax funds are used. School districts for instance, use their portion of property taxes for things like paying teachers, funding programs, and building maintenance. County governments use their portion for road maintenance, public safety, and infrastructure. Fire districts can use this funding to replace aging equipment and maintain stations.
Local Government Cost Savings
In addition to the revenue generation, solar brings cost savings too. Schools across Illinois are installing solar systems to reduce operating costs. With over 400 school solar installations statewide and dedicated state funding through Illinois Shines’ Public Schools category, districts are cutting electricity expenses and redirecting those savings to education. When a school district reduces its monthly electricity bill through solar, that money goes toward teachers and textbooks, instead of utility payments.
Local solar companies throughout the region install these systems on school buildings and municipal facilities, keeping both the installation work and the long-term savings within Southern Illinois.
Business Opportunities for Local Contractors
Solar development creates openings for local businesses with electrical, construction, or mechanical skills. Statewide, 72% of clean energy businesses employ fewer than 20 people. These are local contractors, installers, and maintenance providers.
Construction workers build the facilities. Electricians handle interconnections. Technicians maintain systems over their 25-30 year lifespans. Administrative staff manage operations. Engineering firms provide design work. These positions require the same skills coal mining, manufacturing, and construction developed in Southern Illinois workers for generations: reading technical documents, following safety protocols, troubleshooting equipment, working independently. Those skills transfer directly to clean energy work.
For someone with hands-on experience from coal, manufacturing, or construction, clean energy work creates ways to start a business. The projects are local, the market is growing, and the technical skills transfer directly.
Land Use: Working Landscapes
Solar projects typically locate on land not suitable for row crop agriculture. These are areas with poor drainage, irregular terrain, or marginal soil quality. Landowners who lease for solar often use the stable income to keep other portions of their property in agricultural production, rather than selling for development.
A 25-year solar lease provides predictable income that doesn’t depend on weather, commodity prices, or annual planting decisions. Many projects include grazing sheep beneath panels or planting native prairie species that support pollinators. Some farmers use solar lease payments to fund succession planning, keeping family land intact for the next generation instead of subdividing for sale.
Southern Illinois has roughly 3.5 million acres of agricultural land. Current and planned solar projects occupy a small fraction of one percent. The projects don’t replace agriculture, they provide another option for landowners managing property that faces economic pressure.
Economic Diversity That Protects Communities
It’s easy to think solar development means installation crews that build projects and move on. The reality is more complex. Not everyone works in solar installation. Some work in manufacturing. Others in maintenance and repair. Some start businesses. Others work for established contractors. Solar projects need technicians for ongoing maintenance, electricians for repairs, administrative staff for operations, and engineers for monitoring systems over 25-30 year lifespans.
New manufacturing facilities are locating in the region because of its energy infrastructure and workforce. Prysmian Group operates a cable manufacturing facility in DuQuoin that supplies the renewable energy sector. Manner Polymers in Mt. Vernon produces components for multiple industries including clean energy.
Southern Illinois learned what happens when communities depend on a single industry. When coal declined, areas that relied heavily on mining or power generation had few alternatives. Solar development, along with related manufacturing and electrical contracting, offers multiple employment options. When one sector slows down, workers have other options. Communities that support multiple industries handle economic changes better than those dependent on a single employer.
Keeping Young People in Southern Illinois
Population decline has challenged the region for decades as young people leave for opportunities elsewhere. Solar installers and related positions pay middle-class wages without requiring a four-year degree.
For someone in their early 20s deciding whether to stay in Southern Illinois or move to larger cities, clear career paths with good wages make a difference. CEJA training programs across the region prepare workers for these careers with industry-recognized certifications. For workers transitioning from declining industries, these programs provide a realistic path to stable employment.
Stable Energy Costs
Electricity demand is rising across the United States, driven by data centers, electric vehicles, and industrial expansion. This increased demand is putting upward pressure on electricity prices nationwide.
Solar helps protect against these price increases because it has no fuel costs. Once built, solar generates power at a fixed cost for decades. Natural gas prices spike with supply disruptions or market volatility. Coal faces commodity price increases. Solar costs stay constant.
This price stability protects residents on fixed incomes and businesses that need predictable operating expenses. Community solar programs let people who can’t install their own systems access clean energy through subscriptions. Illinois Solar for All prioritizes low-income households, creating ways to reduce energy costs for families that need it most.
Building on Southern Illinois’s Strengths
For more than two centuries, Southern Illinois has been energy country. The region has the infrastructure, the workforce skills, and the industrial sites that energy development requires. Solar projects use the transmission lines coal built. Workers apply the same troubleshooting abilities and safety practices they’ve always used. Communities that understand how to work with energy companies are applying that experience to new opportunities.
The transition from coal to solar isn’t erasing Southern Illinois’s energy legacy. Instead, it’s building on it. Property taxes fund the same schools and services that coal revenue once supported. Local contractors and installers create businesses using skills developed over generations. Manufacturing facilities choose the region for the same reasons they always have: workforce, infrastructure, and location.
Solar development provides what communities need: diverse employment options, stable public revenue, and opportunities for the next generation. Projects across Southern Illinois demonstrate what’s possible when a region adapts its strengths to new markets.
Clean energy careers are growing across Southern Illinois. Training is free. Learn more about the CEJA program or contact Man-Tra-Con to get started.