The 2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan (2015 iCAP) looked for clean energy solutions for campus and set stretch goals for both the use and the production of clean energy for campus. In April 2017, the Energy Generation, Purchasing, and Distribution SWATeam submitted recommendation eGen007 to "Start a project to expand the existing Solar farm, or install a new large scale solar installation in a new location." In November 2017, the iCAP Working Group completed their assessment of the recommendation, stating "The iWG agrees that this is the most cost-effective method for meeting the iCAP objective of 25,000 MWh/year of on-campus solar generation by FY25.  To meet that goal, the Solar Farm 2.0 project needs to begin soon, under F&S direction."  In November of that same year, the Sustainability Council approved the concept of this new solar farm, and a site selection was completed during spring 2018. 

In the summer of 2018, after discussions with our neighbors in Savoy, the Chancellor’s Capital Review Committee approved the location, and a request for proposals was initiated. Different vendors from across the nation submitted proposals and various designs for this new solar farm, with nineteen submissions in total. By May of 2019, Sol Systems of Washington, D.C. was chosen to complete the project. Prairieland Energy, Inc. (PEI) will buy the solar energy at a fixed rate of $45.99 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the duration of the 20 year Power Purchase Agreement, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will receive the associated renewable energy certificates (RECs) and the right to claim the use of clean power.