Why Build New Generation Here

New power generation needs three things: land, a connection to the grid, and transmission to move the power. Assembling them from scratch takes years.
The Baldwin plant site already had all three. The Baldwin Power Plant has owned and maintained its property for decades, and already had established transmission equipment that connects the regional grid. The plant deployed the new generation assets on land it had owned for decades and is now generating power for families, farmers, and businesses across Illinois.
Using acres of land at existing or former power plant sites and reclaimed brownfield land for new energy technologies brings economic benefits to local communities. It also supports a Just Transition and helps bring new energy resources to Illinois’ grid.
This approach matches the state’s policy goals. The new power generation facilities are built on land the plant has owned and maintained for decades. Each brownfield acre used to meet the evolving energy needs of Illinois and America is one more acre saved for other uses like farming.
The Baldwin plant site, Randolph County, Illinois.

New Power Generation Added In Illinois

Solar capacity68MWOver 200,000 panels across roughly 420 acres of the plant site.
Battery storage2MW / 8 MWhFour hours of storage, dispatchable to the grid.
Annual generation140,000MWhZero-carbon electricity a year, over an expected 20-year life.
Capital invested$135MPrivate investment at the Baldwin plant site.

How Baldwin Solar + Storage Was Built

All work on the project was performed under a Project Labor Agreement. These are recorded hours from the build, not modeled estimates.
202,077On-site local labor hours at Baldwin — the equivalent of roughly 97 full-time positions for a year.
175 / dayPeak on-site craft employment. Because trades rotate by construction phase, more individuals worked the site than this figure.
423,237Total local labor hours across Baldwin, Coffeen and Newton. Excludes off-site, supply-chain and indirect work.

Economic Impact in Randolph County

Building Baldwin Solar + Storage delivered a one-time economic stimulus to Randolph County — capital investment at the site, wages for local trades, and spending through the local supply chain. The property tax base is the lasting piece.
During construction94FTEDirect, indirect and induced full-time equivalents of construction work.
Local earnings$7.1MPaid to local workers during construction.
Local economic output$10MTotal stimulus to the Randolph County economy during construction.
Property taxes$6MEstimated over the life of the project, at constant local rates.
Construction-phase economic impact was modeled for Vistra by Dr. David G. Loomis, Strategic Economic Research, LLC using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s JEDI Solar PV model with county-level IMPLAN multipliers, from the March 2021 analysis. Figures are gross rather than net, and full-time equivalents are units of construction work — one equivalent is 2,080 hours in a year — not a count of people hired. State law governs how renewable energy systems are taxed; the property tax estimate assumes local rates hold constant.

Baldwin Site at a Glance

Address10901 Baldwin Road, Baldwin, IL 62217
CountyRandolph County, Illinois
Solar footprintRoughly 420 acres
Panels installedMore than 200,000
Solar capacity68 MW
Storage2 MW / 8 MWh — 4 hours
Annual generation~140,000 MWh
Grid connection2024
On-site local labor202,077 hours
Peak craft on site175 trades per day
Labor agreementProject Labor Agreement

Questions About Baldwin Solar + Storage

Is Baldwin Solar + Storage operating?

Yes. Baldwin Solar + Storage became operational at the Baldwin plant site in 2024. The facility pairs 68 MW of utility-scale solar generation with a 2 MW / 8 MWh battery energy storage system, and produces approximately 140,000 MWh of zero-carbon electricity a year over an expected 20-year operating life. The solar array and the storage system work together: solar generates when the sun is up, and the battery holds four hours of energy that can be dispatched to the grid when it is needed most.

On the Baldwin plant property at 10901 Baldwin Road, Baldwin, Illinois 62217, in Randolph County. The plant has occupied the site for decades. Baldwin Solar + Storage occupies roughly 420 acres of that property, where more than 200,000 solar panels were installed.

The project involved 202,077 on-site local labor hours, with peak on-site craft employment of 175 members of the skilled trades per day. All work was performed under a Project Labor Agreement.

The peak-day figure reflects the highest number of workers on site on any given day. It is not the total number of individuals employed at the project, because the crafts rotate based on the phase of construction — so considerably more tradespeople worked on Baldwin than 175.

Across the three completed Coal to Solar projects at Baldwin, Coffeen and Newton, the Initiative created 423,237 labor hours of work for union members of the skilled trades. Work completed off-site, by the supply chain or by other vendors, is not included in that figure.

Economic modeling estimated 94 full-time equivalents of work during construction — direct, indirect and induced. Construction also generated an estimated $7.1 million in earnings for local workers and roughly $10 million in total economic output in Randolph County.

A full-time equivalent represents 2,080 hours of work in a year, so these figures describe units of work rather than a headcount. Because construction is short-term and the crafts rotate by phase, the number of individuals who actually worked on the project was higher than the equivalent figure suggests.

The solar components are estimated to generate approximately $6 million in property taxes over the life of the project. State law governs how renewable energy systems are taxed, and that estimate assumes local tax rates are held constant; should officials change local rates over the next two decades, the actual amount collected would vary.

The new investment has added to the local property tax base and is a stable source of annual revenue for local governments, schools and districts in Randolph County.

Vistra commissioned Dr. David G. Loomis of Strategic Economic Research, LLC — Professor of Economics at Illinois State University and co-founder of its Center for Renewable Energy — to conduct an economic impact analysis of the Initiative. Dr. Loomis has testified on the economic impacts of energy projects before the Illinois Commerce Commission and numerous county boards.

The analysis uses the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) Solar PV model, an input-output model built on IMPLAN industry multipliers. Separate models were run at the county level for each project so that local officials could understand the effect in their own community. Figures represent gross rather than net impacts.