Why This Site

A battery energy storage project needs what any new energy asset needs: land, a connection to the grid, and transmission to move the power. Assembling them from scratch takes years. The Havana plant site already has all three.
The Havana Power Plant has occupied this property in Mason County for decades. The site carries established transmission equipment connecting it to the regional grid.
The Havana Power Plant has retired. Vistra announced the closure in August 2019, one of four Illinois plants retired to comply with the state’s revised Multi-Pollutant Standard rule governing emissions across the fleet.
Placing new assets on ground like this reuses infrastructure that already exists instead of building it somewhere else from nothing.
The Havana plant site, Mason County, Illinois.

What Is Under Consideration

TechnologyStorageUtility-scale battery energy storage.
Capacity in development37MWStorage capacity being evaluated for the site.
CountyMasonMason County, Illinois.
Project scope changes as development work proceeds, and no decision to construct has been made. Any project at the Havana site would depend on market conditions, permitting, interconnection and other approvals.

What a Project Here Would Mean

Building a project at the Havana site would deliver a one-time economic stimulus to Mason County — capital investment at the site, wages for local trades, and spending through the local supply chain.
The figures below are what that was modeled to produce.
Capital investment$73MModeled investment at the plant site.
During construction93Jobs supported in Mason County over the construction period.
Local earnings$5MEarnings for local workers during construction.
Local economic output$7.3MAdded economic activity in the county during construction.
Economic impact figures were modeled for Vistra by Dr. David G. Loomis, Strategic Economic Research, LLC.

This Has Been Done Four Times in Illinois

Havana is a proposal. The approach behind it is not.
Baldwin68 MW of solar with energy storage in Randolph County, operating.
Newton52 MW of solar with energy storage in Jasper County, operating.
Coffeen44 MW of solar with energy storage in Montgomery County, operating.
Pulaski405 MW of solar in Pulaski County, complete and generating.
Three of the four sit on existing plant property, using the same combination of land, interconnection and transmission that the Havana site has. The fourth, Pulaski Solar, was built on leased farmland and connects through an eight-mile line to a retired plant site.

Havana Site at a Glance

Location15260 IL 78, Havana, IL 62644
CountyMason County, Illinois
Plant statusRetired 2019 under the state’s Multi-Pollutant Standard rule
In developmentUtility-scale battery energy storage
Capacity in development37 MW
InterconnectionExisting plant interconnection and transmission

Questions About the Havana Site

No. A utility-scale battery energy storage project has been under development for the site, but no decision to construct has been made. Energy projects of this size take years of diligence, engineering, permitting and interconnection work before anyone breaks ground.

Because the hardest parts are already there. New energy assets need land, a connection to the grid and transmission to carry the power away, and assembling those three from scratch can take the better part of a decade. The Havana plant site has all three in place already.

Yes, four times. Baldwin, Newton and Coffeen pair utility-scale solar with energy storage on existing plant property and are operating today. Pulaski Solar, a 405 MW facility in southern Illinois, reached commercial operation ahead of schedule.

Modeling for a redevelopment project at the Havana site estimated 93 jobs supported in Mason County during construction, $5 million in earnings for local workers and $7.3 million in added local economic output.