Expanding community solar in northern Illinois helps increase energy on the grid while helping customers save on electricity costs

CHICAGO -- (Business Wire)

ComEd and Chicago-based solar developer SunVest today hosted an event to celebrate the energization of a unique community solar project sited at the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport. Constructed adjacent to the airfield, the project financially supports the community while saving area subscribers on their power bills.

With 60 percent of the subscription capacity dedicated to low-to-moderate income (LMI) customers, the nearly eight-megawatt array provides DeKalb-area homes and small businesses with subscriptions to clean, affordable energy. Average customer savings are more than $300 per year, or nearly $11,000 over the 35-year lifetime of the project. Across all subscribers, the cost savings amount to $246,000 annually — amounting to $8.61 million over the next three decades.

“At a time when energy prices are rising nationwide, community solar projects like this one by SunVest are a quick way to bring down costs by bringing more power on to the grid,” said ComEd President and CEO Gil Quiniones. “Not all households and businesses have suitable structures for solar installation, and community supply solves for that problem, while also helping to reduce customer bills and expand access to clean power.”

The siting of this project helps fulfill the Illinois Power Agency’s goal to construct community solar facilities on municipal lands. The cost benefits of this project extend beyond subscribing customers, generating $91,000 and in site rent and $36,000 in property taxes to DeKalb County each year. The vast majority of the property taxes are dedicated to local schools under state law.

“This project provides meaningful benefits to Northern Illinois communities,” said Bram Walters, CEO of SunVest Solar. “Not only does this project save lower-income residents on their power bills, the rent paid to the municipal airport and property taxes paid to local jurisdictions provide new revenue for the community.”

“The DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport is proud to participate in the solar energy program. The solar farm helps reduce the carbon footprint, supports the use of renewable energy, and provides an additional source of revenue for the airport," said Ben Trompeter, Airport Manager of DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport. “The City of DeKalb and DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport are pleased to partner with SunVest and ComEd on this project, demonstrating a shared commitment to environmental stewardship and long-term sustainability.”

Aided by state policy, solar has more than tripled in ComEd’s northern Illinois service territory since the landmark Clean Energy and Jobs Act (CEJA) law went into effect in late 2021. Today, 2.0 gigawatts of distributed energy resources are connected to ComEd’s grid, including 85,000 solar and battery storage systems. More than 280 community sites serve over 53,000 residential customers. ComEd anticipates having 420 community solar sites livened by the end of 2026 – including 16 systems by SunVest.

“Expanding clean energy production is essential to meeting our growing energy needs, and I’m proud that Illinois is helping to lead in that effort,”said Congressman Bill Foster. “This project will help local families and small businesses save on their electricity bills while ensuring more people can share in the benefits of solar power.”

Through subscription-based community solar, customers subscribe to a portion of the electricity generated and receive credits on their bill for the solar energy produced by the community solar generating system. To learn more about community solar or find a community solar project, visit comed.com/communitysolar.

ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 200 energy company, serving almost 11 million electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4.2 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

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Contacts:

ComEd Media Relations
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Source: ComEd