Google Partners on Illinois’ New 593MW Double Black Diamond Solar

• Swift Current Energy’s 800 MWDC Double Black Diamond Solar park, backed by Google, now powers 100,000 homes and supplies 70% of Chicago’s municipal electricity.

Swift Current Energy finally flipped the switch on its Double Black Diamond Solar park this week, bringing 593 MWAC (800 MWDC) of clean power online in central Illinois. Google’s tax-equity investment helped make the ribbon-cutting possible, reinforcing the tech giant’s pledge to run on carbon-free energy every hour of every day.

Located about 30 miles west of Springfield, the sprawling site stretches across thousands of acres and is anchored by 1.6 million First Solar panels—many built in Ohio—and Nextracker’s single-axis trackers that follow the sun’s path. Once up to speed, the farm is set to generate enough juice to keep roughly 100,000 homes humming with electricity each year.

Already, agreements are in place to send power where it’s needed most. The City of Chicago and seven other buyers will tap into the output via Constellation NewEnergy Inc. In concrete terms, that means about 70 percent of Chicago’s municipal electricity—including O’Hare and Midway airports—will flow from Double Black Diamond, giving local infrastructure a serious green boost.

Work on the project first kicked off back in 2018. A financing group led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Société Générale, Truist, and eight more lenders laid out the capital for construction. McCarthy Building Companies saw the site through grading, racking, and hooking into the grid as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) lead.

“Seeing this park light up is tremendously gratifying,” said a Swift Current Energy spokesperson. “It shows what’s possible when developers, financiers, and corporate buyers pull together around renewable energy.”

As Illinois—and the rest of the Midwest—looks to slash carbon emissions, projects like Double Black Diamond prove utility-scale solar can be both an economic engine and an environmental win. For Google, it’s another step toward sourcing all its electricity from zero-carbon sources by 2030. For the region, it’s a landmark feat of large-scale clean energy development.