Key Issues for Attorneys Reviewing Solar Leases in Illinois

Many rural practitioners and agricultural attorneys routinely encounter solar leases as a result of sustained development interest across Illinois. These leases can bind property for 30 to 50 years or more and, although each transaction carries its own nuances, several recurring legal and economic considerations consistently require close scrutiny to protect landowners’ interests.

A threshold issue is understanding the true duration and financial consequences of the agreement. Solar leases typically include an option period that often spans two to five years followed by construction, operations, and multiple renewal terms that can extend the total commitment to half a century. While annual rents generally exceed traditional cash rent or crop share arrangements, counsel must assess whether fixed or escalating payments adequately compensate for lost agricultural income and potential consequences under state and federal farm programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program. Lease provisions addressing crop damage, soil compaction, and drainage tile disturbance, are equally significant. Clear damage formulas, repair obligations, and restoration standards help minimize disputes long after construction ends.

Solar leases in Illinois tend to operate as hybrid lease and easement instruments that grant developers expansive rights for access roads, underground and overhead electrical lines, vegetative management, fencing, and temporary laydown areas. These easements, if drafted broadly, can permanently alter a farm’s operational layout. Because solar facilities are frequently built on high quality agricultural land, construction impacts must be addressed in detail. Provisions concerning topsoil removal and replacement, compaction limits, erosion control, and post-construction restoration should be explicit rather than left to developer discretion.

Decommissioning, meaning what happens when the project reaches the end of its useful life, is one of the most consequential components of a solar lease. A well-crafted agreement should specify the full scope of required removals, including panels, electrical equipment, cabling, access roads, and concrete foundations; should establish soil and drainage restoration standards; should set definite deadlines for completing decommissioning; and should require robust financial security (i.e., bonds, letters of credit, or escrow accounts).

In addition to local and zoning-based requirements (e.g., 55 ILCS 5/5-12020 of the Counties Code), Illinois solar projects must comply with the Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreement (“AIMA”) required under the Renewable Energy Facilities Agricultural Impact Mitigation Act, 505 ILCS 147. The AIMA establishes statewide minimum standards for topsoil handling, compaction mitigation, drainage tile repair, construction traffic limitations, vegetative management, etc. Because the AIMA functions as a regulatory baseline rather than a comprehensive safeguard, attorneys should request that the project incorporate it, along with any enhanced landowner protections, directly into the lease to ensure those obligations are privately enforceable. Further, landowners should not rely exclusively on the AIMA as unique facets of solar projects, such as battery energy storage, are not comprehensively outlined within the AIMA or current Illinois law.

Early involvement of counsel yields better outcomes for landowners. Coordinating with lenders, accountants, and tenant farmers; obtaining construction plans and tile maps; and evaluating long-term operational impacts, all help clients understand the costs and benefits of hosting solar facilities. Outside of maintaining a working knowledge of applicable law, counsel should be well-versed in market trends as well as up-to-date studies on solar project effects on property values, nuisance concerns, and competing technologies. Developers expect negotiation, and thoughtful revisions can meaningfully reduce risk for landowners committing their property to potentially many decades of solar development.

Altogether, solar projects remain an area of practice with extensive uncertainty and broad scope for real estate attorneys. This brief discussion is only a broad overview of potential areas of concern that attorneys should be mindful of when reviewing and advising clients.

Ean R. Albers is an associate attorney with Hasselberg Grebe Snodgrass Urban & Wentworth, located in Peoria and Lacon, Illinois.

This article was originally published in Real Property (December 2025, Vol. 71, No. 6), the newsletter of ISBA’s Real Estate Law Section.