The objective of Innovation with Integrity: A New Life for the Tilden Mine was to demonstrate how clean energy development can succeed in the most complex conditions while honoring community commitments and America’s energy legacy.
Built on a former subsurface coal mine in Southern Illinois, the Tilden Solar Project faced extraordinary technical, regulatory, and land-use challenges. Rather than reducing the story to just capacity numbers or construction milestones, the goal was to create a transparent, human-centered narrative that documented the perseverance, problem-solving, and collaboration required to deliver a project many believed was not feasible.
The video was designed to achieve three primary goals. First, to provide a credible and accessible explanation of how innovative engineering and long-term planning can transform legacy industrial sites into productive clean energy infrastructure. Second, to reinforce trust with community members, partners, and stakeholders by showing that commitments made early in development were ultimately fulfilled. And third, to elevate the broader conversation around the clean energy transition by highlighting that progress does not mean abandoning history – but responsibly building upon it.
By grounding the project in real people and real places, the work aimed to inspire confidence in clean energy development, encourage replication on other challenging sites, and set a higher standard for integrity-driven infrastructure storytelling.
Innovation with Integrity: A New Life for the Tilden Mine, was created to tell a story rarely seen in clean energy communications – building a solar project on a former subsurface coal mine in Southern Illinois. This project presented extraordinary development challenges, including long-term subsidence risks, complex engineering requirements, and coordination with numerous mineral rights holders. Rather than reducing the story to megawatts and milestones, Sol Systems set out to document the human, technical, and community partnerships it took to complete the project.
The strategy centered on authenticity and education. Filming took place on site, capturing the physical scale of the project and the land’s transformation, while interviews highlighted the collaborative effort among engineers, construction partners, and local stakeholders. Execution focused on clarity and integrity. Technical challenges were explained in accessible language without oversimplifying the work. Community voices were prioritized to reflect local pride and long-term impact. Visually, the video juxtaposes the region’s coal-mining legacy with modern solar infrastructure, reinforcing the theme that clean energy does not erase history – it builds upon it.
A key feature of the project was restraint. Instead of promotional language, the narrative emphasizes problem-solving, accountability, and follow-through. This approach aligned with Sol Systems’ broader commitment to transparency and long-term partnership, ensuring the story resonated as credible rather than aspirational.
The result is a piece of branded storytelling that functions as both documentation and inspiration – demonstrating how thoughtful development can restore purpose to historic land, strengthen communities, and advance the clean energy transition with integrity.
The video successfully met its core objective: to demonstrate that complex clean energy projects can be delivered responsibly, transparently, and in partnership with local communities.
Innovation with Integrity: A New Life for the Tilden Mine has been shared with industry partners, investors, policymakers, and community stakeholders as a compelling way to provide a clear, credible account of what it takes to deliver infrastructure on a challenging legacy site. By pairing technical rigor with human storytelling, the video strengthened Sol Systems’ reputation as a developer capable of executing projects others may deem too difficult.
After viewing the film, a developer contacted Sol Systems with a project with similar subsurface mine conditions and technical risks to Tilden. They explicitly noted that they believed only Sol Systems could successfully deliver a project of this complexity—an endorsement that speaks to the credibility the video helped establish and the track record Sol has built on former mine lands.
The piece has also served as an educational tool, helping audiences understand how former industrial sites can be repurposed for domestic energy production while generating long-term economic and community benefits. Internally and externally, the video reinforced trust by showing that Sol Systems delivered on commitments made years earlier, closing the loop between financial close, construction, and commercial operation.
Ultimately, the project was successful because it elevated the conversation around clean energy development, shifting focus from speed alone to durability, accountability, and community-aligned outcomes, values Sol Systems believes are increasingly essential to the future of infrastructure development.
