Loyola University Chicago announced it began using the power generated by the Double Black Diamond Solar Farm in central Illinois. 

The renewable electricity Loyola purchases from the facility helped the University become one of only 15 carbon-neutral universities in the nation.

The Double Black Diamond Solar Farm is located in Sangamon and Morgan Counties, 30 miles west of Springfield, Illinois, and became operational in late 2024. The project is owned and operated by renewable energy developer Swift Current Energy.

Along with the City of Chicago, Loyola was among the first organizations to sign on to buy power from Double Black Diamond. In 2023, the university signed an agreement with Constellation to purchase power from the new solar project and the contract started on January 1, 2025. Loyola agreed to purchase an estimated 81,660 megawatt hours of electricity annually from the project, enough to completely power the University’s Lake Shore, Water Tower and health sciences campuses.

“As the only educational institution signing on to the Double Black Diamond project, Loyola viewed this commitment as much more than powering our campuses,” Loyola President Mark C. Reed said in a statement. “This partnership demonstrates to our students that environmental sustainability is not only a core value or subject of academic study at Loyola but also an opportunity to develop practical, technological innovations like this solar farm to contribute to the long-term solution.”

This project helped Loyola meet the goals of the University’s Climate Action Plan, which included achieving carbon neutrality by 2025. This strategy follows other significant commitments to sustainability by the university, including over $150 million invested in high-performing buildings and campus energy systems, the inclusion of sustainability in the core curriculum, the launch of the School of Environmental Sustainability in 2020, and a new campus plan committed to decarbonization for all campus energy.