Earthrise Energy presents 260 MW Plum Valley solar plan, offers $100,000 community benefits to nearby villages

Ryan Dunphy, senior development associate at Earthrise Energy, told the Village of Beecher board on Oct. 14 that the company plans a 260-megawatt utility-scale solar facility called Plum Valley Solar near Beecher and asked the village to consider a letter of nonobjection to support the project’s county permitting process.

Dunphy said the project would interconnect using existing transmission-level connections associated with Earthrise’s natural-gas peaker plants in the county, which allows the developer to “skip” a lengthy interconnection queue and bring the facility online faster. He said the developer expects to submit special-use permit applications to Will County and to nearby municipalities soon and anticipates construction beginning in July or August 2026 with commercial operation in 2028.

The developer described expected local economic benefits. Dunphy said the company projects roughly $2.6 million in new tax proceeds to local taxing bodies in the first year of operations, naming the Crete school district and Beecher school district among recipients. He also said Plum Valley would be a union-built project and that the company’s engineering, procurement and construction manager has signed a memorandum of understanding with the tri trades.

Dunphy said Earthrise operates as an independent power producer that owns and runs both natural-gas peaker plants and solar facilities and that the existing gas-plant grid connections reduce study and interconnection delay. He described community engagement to date, including meetings with local fire districts and a demonstration visit to Earthrise’s Gibson City facility for first responders.

The company offered a community benefit payment: $100,000 to any village within 1.5 miles of the project to support a capital project chosen by the village. Dunphy said the project company that would own the facility is a separate entity (named in the draft community benefit agreement as a property-management/project company) and that the payment would be administered through that entity.

Board members asked about construction traffic, parcel ownership and timing. Dunphy said traffic routing and road-use agreements are still being negotiated with township road commissioners and that some parcels are under long-term lease while others are under contract to purchase. He said detailed traffic plans would be shared as engineering work progresses.

Dunphy asked the village to identify a candidate project that the community benefit payment could fund and said Earthrise would later seek an official vote to adopt the community benefit agreement. He clarified the current request was for a neutral or nonobjection letter for county permitting, not formal endorsement of the solar facility itself.

No formal board vote was taken on the letter of nonobjection or the community benefit agreement at the Oct. 14 meeting; trustees agreed to review the community benefit agreement and to return with questions. The board’s economic development committee suggested possible uses such as sidewalks or safer routes to schools if the village accepts the donation when it is later available.

The developer left materials and offered to provide additional technical documents, traffic routing and an electronic copy of the presentation to village staff.