Your land could earn

No. The installation is contained to a small fenced area — typically 1 to 5 acres depending on project size. It doesn't interfere with planting, harvesting, drainage, or equipment access on the rest of your land. Farmers who have signed leases report no impact on their day-to-day operations.

As little as 1 acre, though larger projects may use up to 5 acres. The key factor isn't how much land you have — it's your property's proximity to three-phase power lines and substation infrastructure. Some properties with hundreds of acres don't qualify, while a small parcel in the right location does.

Lease payments vary depending on your location, acreage, and proximity to power infrastructure. Generally, battery storage leases pay significantly more per acre than farmland cash rent. Use our lease calculator for a county-specific estimate.

The developer pays for everything — site preparation, equipment, electrical work, permitting, ongoing maintenance, and insurance. Our development partner has built hundreds of energy projects and has the financing and infrastructure to handle the full project lifecycle. Your only role is leasing the land.

At the end of the lease term, you can choose to renew under new terms, or the energy company removes the equipment and restores the site. The removal obligation is written into the lease.

Leases are long-term commitments, similar to farmland leases or wind turbine easements. The specific terms, including any early termination provisions, are spelled out in the lease agreement, which you should review with an attorney before signing.

Not directly. Illinois passed legislation that created new incentives for battery energy storage, which made these projects economically viable across the state. The leases are between you and a private energy developer — not the government. Our development partner is one of the nation's leading clean energy companies, with over a decade of experience building solar projects in Illinois.

We partner with one of the largest community solar and energy storage developers in the United States. They have hundreds of active energy projects, including many across Illinois. They've been developing clean energy projects in the state for over 10 years. When your contract is signed, you'll work directly with their team.

Our development partner has active solar projects across northern Illinois, including in many of the same counties where battery storage is now viable. Battery storage is newer, but the company, the process, and the team are well established.

You may have heard about the Vistra Moss Landing fire in California — that incident involved older NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) chemistry batteries, which are more prone to thermal runaway. Modern projects in Illinois use LFP (lithium iron phosphate) chemistry, which is far more thermally stable and contains no toxic heavy metals. All installations comply with NFPA 855 standards, which require fire suppression systems, setbacks, emergency response plans filed with local fire departments, and 24/7 monitoring. For context, grain bin explosions, anhydrous ammonia incidents, and diesel storage leaks cause far more injuries and damage annually than battery storage, which has fewer than 10 significant events globally per year across thousands of installations. Read our full safety guide at illinoisbattery.com/blog/is-battery-storage-safe-illinois.

Battery storage installations are small — typically 0.2 to 2 acres, about the size of a few shipping containers on a concrete pad behind a fence. They're 8-10 feet tall, visually minimal, and often screened by existing tree lines. There is no peer-reviewed evidence of property value decline from small BESS installations. The factors that drive property value concerns for large solar farms or wind turbines — massive visual footprint, noise audible from a distance, shadow flicker — don't apply. The installation is fully removed and the site restored when the lease ends.