Pando Energy Partners Launches Illinois Clean Energy Platform: Over 100 MW of Community Solar and Storage Across 16+ Projects

Midwest-based Pando will build the portfolio as the exclusive EPC partner for a New York-based developer with nearly one gigawatt of previously deployed capacity

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Pando Energy Partners LLC, a St. Louis-based clean energy execution partnership, announced today that it holds exclusive engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) rights for a portfolio of sixteen community solar and battery energy storage projects in Illinois.

The initial portfolio totals approximately 108 MW (DC) of solar generation, with battery storage systems exceeding 157 MWh across eight of the sites, with a combined EPC scope estimated by Pando at nearly $200 million.

The projects span south-central and northern Illinois and will be constructed under prevailing wage standards.

Orbital Energy , a principal member of Pando, is a full-service development & EPC firm with offices in St. Louis and Chicago. Its team has designed, built, and supported delivery of over 1.9 GW of solar and nearly 6 GWh of battery storage nationwide with integrated capabilities spanning development, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and operations support. Orbital has already completed engineering work on several of these projects and brings the execution expertise to deliver the rest.

Pando's commitment to Illinois begins in East St. Louis, where the team is participating for the second consecutive year in the Advanced Energy Group East St. Louis Stakeholder Challenge, sponsored by Ameren and other public and private organizations, and where Orbital is on the team advancing a major community solar development on one of the city's signature former industrial sites. Through the Challenge's employment forum, Pando has identified an initial pool of East St. Louis job candidates to hire as the portfolio moves into mobilization. The work advances the goals Illinois outlined in the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act: clean energy built on well-paid local jobs, with investment reaching communities historically excluded from energy development, and locally generated energy that strengthens the grid for an electrifying economy.

Pando takes its name from the ancient Utah aspen grove: tens of thousands of trunks sharing a single root system, making it one of the largest and oldest organisms on Earth. In Latin, it means "I spread out," which is the model for the partnership: many projects, one root system, growth that strengthens the whole.

"World-class development capabilities paired with genuine local roots," said Byron DeLear, founding partner of Pando Energy Partners and CEO of Sustainable Equity LLC . "Our partner chose a team that lives here and hires here. The communities hosting these projects, starting with East St. Louis, will share in the value they generate."

"Illinois sun, Illinois batteries, and Illinois workers earning prevailing wages, our work in this state will put power back into the hands of the people," said Matt Connell, founder and CEO of Orbital Energy.

Legal counsel for the transaction was provided by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP and Husch Blackwell LLP.

About Pando Energy Partners LLC

Pando Energy Partners is a St. Louis-based partnership comprising Orbital Energy LLC, a full-service renewable energy EPC firm led by CEO Matt Connell; Geosol Global Deployment LLC , a local Illinois market EPC firm; and Drago Holdings LLC, an international asset holding company. The Pando partners bring decades of experience in clean energy finance, banking, public policy, and construction, including founding Energy Equity Funding (acquired by Ygrene Energy Fund in 2017) and building Missouri's commercial PACE market into a platform that has financed over $500 million in clean energy upgrades.

Media Contact

Byron DeLear, [email protected], (314) 445-7911

SOURCE Pando Energy Partners LLC