© Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/TNS Mourning doves on solar panels at the Glenwood Solar Project community solar farm in Chicago Heights on October 11, 2022 .The apartment doesn't have shiny black solar panels on the roof, but Paul Dickerson sees the benefits of clean energy.
Dickerson, 73, of Oak Park, signed up for a program known as the Illinois Community Solar Program, where residents sign up for nearby solar farms, reduce greenhouse gas emissions greenhouses and obtain reductions on their electricity bills.
In a recent interview, Dickerson and fellow building greening committee members Elaine Johnson and Art Spooner compared electricity cost charts and said their 28-unit building would pay less with energy. community solar due to cost savings. About $40 per month for electricity in common areas.
© Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS Art Spooner, left, solar residential community owners Paul Dickerson and Elaine Johnson display a graph of their electric bills in front of their building on September 29, 2022 in Oak Park."Try it, you'll like it," Dickerson said. "You'll save money and have the satisfaction of saving the planet, at least a little."
Community solar power, which gained popularity in Illinois, emerged in the mid-2000s to bring clean energy to the many US households (by some estimates around 50%) on the West Coast that don't had no access to solar panels, often because residents could not afford them. . They don't have their own houses or enough sunlight on their roofs.
© Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/TNS Solar panels are part of the Glenwood Solar Project community solar farm in Chicago Heights on October 11, 2022.The solar power from community solar power doesn't go into your home, it goes into the local power grid that powers homes and businesses around your state, and you sort of benefit from government solar incentives. Low electricity bills.
Community solar power is growing in states like New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine and Illinois, with enough solar power for 44,000 homes by 2021, up from 17,000 before.
"Community solar is going to explode with availability, and you're going to see it everywhere and in your own community," said Nicole Steele, senior adviser in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Solar Technologies. "It's another way to help with the clean energy transition, to be part of the clean energy transition and to see the real benefits."
Community solar launches an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. Electricity.
In an interview with the Tribune, some early adopters in the Chicago area complained of receiving two electric bills a month under the sun in the community. One from ComEd and the other from Solar Farm find the system cumbersome and difficult to understand.
But those who had the time and skill to dig up the numbers said they were happy with what they found, and a watchdog said he only knew of one of the Illinois cases that his clients had seen – an apparent miscalculation. Finance. Savings.
"Community solar in Illinois is one of those things that seems too good to be true," said Sarah Moskowitz, deputy director of the Citizens Utilities Council, an Illinois consumer advocacy group. "But for once, CUB is here to convince people they can save money, and it's a great program."
A lifelong environmentalist, Khashoggi put "rooftop solar panels" on his wish list when he retired from his role as production and quality manager in 2016.
Unfortunately, at that time, his house had a thatched roof.
Sitting on the two-story limestone pillars of the former YMCA in the meticulously restored lobby of a Greek Revival apartment building, Spooner laughs.
"The (solar cell) companies said they've never made solar cells out of clay slabs before, and it's like, come on, what song and what dance are you going to give me?" he said.
Dickerson smiled. "California definitely does," said the retired electrical engineer.
Spooner searched for alternatives and found the Community Sun, but was unable to register. The option is not yet widespread in Illinois.
"The more I learned, the angrier it got."
The Village of Oak Park finally got its chance when it offered residents a solar power option. She and her husband, a retired school and children's librarian, are enrolled in 2020, as are Johnson and her husband.
Dickerson and his wife decided to look into public plans and went with Nexamp.
Spooner and Dickerson save approximately 10% on their total electric bill when taxes, fees and delivery charges are included.
"You can see here it's for the condo association and it's for our unit," Dickerson said of the graphic he posted. “I save $3-4 per month, and on average, over 12 months, the apartment saves $40 per month. »
Community solar projects benefit Illinois utilities like ComEd, which must generate 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 50% by 2040. Community solar farms are driving these certificates.
Illinois offers particularly strong consumer protections for low- and middle-income residents who sign up for community solar power through the state's Illinois Solar for All program. Individuals who meet the income eligibility requirements for this program have no upfront costs and must receive at least 50% off their loan-supported ComEd electricity bills. (The credit covers much, but usually not all, of the electricity used, depending on factors such as the amount of energy used by the customer and the total amount of energy produced by the solar farm.)
High-income earners who sign up for community solar, known as Illinois' SHINS, don't get a guaranteed savings rate. They also have other important consumer protections, according to Rachel Graneman, consumer protection adviser for the Illinois Energy Agency.
Approved sellers listed on the Illinois Shines website must meet several state requirements, including a standard disclosure form that solar farms must provide to consumers. The form allows consumers to compare companies' offerings side-by-side. Also, contracts should contain relevant information such as prices and fees. Excessive expressions such as customer savings are prohibited.
"We have a hotline, an email. We have a mailing address and a complaint form on our website," Greenman said. "If there are issues that the customer cannot resolve with an authorized reseller, we may take disciplinary action."
The Illinois Energy Agency, which administers state programs that support new solar power development, has the authority to exclude community solar farms from programs that offer significant financial incentives.
In theory, a solar provider could offer you a subscription that costs more than sticking with ComEd, but in practice, CUB's Granemann and Moskowitz said they haven't seen that happen.
Now, all community solar proposals are designed as Graneman sees them. Customers can get a 10% to 20% discount on covered electricity by crediting their electricity bill. This does not apply to separate subscription fees, although nothing prevents companies from charging additional fees as long as they know they are working.
Moskowitz said there's only been one case in Illinois where someone had to pay the community for solar power, and that was because of an error in calculating needs. energy of the individual.
"So far so good," Moskowitz said.
Solar customers in northern Illinois receive prepayment from ComEd for most of the electricity they use. You don't pay for the energy covered by the loan, just the rest of your Comede bill.
The next step is Step 2: Invoicing your community solar business. At this point, you actually pay for the electricity covered by the credit into your ComEd account, but usually with a 10% to 20% discount. The difference between paying for electricity under ComEd and what you pay with community solar is your savings.
For example, you can get a $50 electricity credit on your ComEd account. You do not pay ComEd for this electricity. Instead, you pay for your solar business, but at a reduced rate. So you save 10% to 20% or 5-10 dollars on 50 dollars.
Does this seem confusing to you? You're not alone.
"It's not very clear to me," said Kay Perry of Oak Park. Perry, a radiation scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, is credited with giving Oak Park residents a community solar option.
He said he felt good about supporting clean energy, but he didn't like the two-part payment process and had trouble signing up, in part because that his work computer was behind a powerful firewall. He wants to see solar power offered at an easy-to-understand price, reducing electricity prices, like wind power was offered in the previous Oak Park plan.
"If you want people to do it with less activation energy, you have to make it as simple as possible," Perry said.
Laurel Pacera, senior director of policy and regulation for the Community Solar Access Coalition, acknowledged that Illinois' community solar model is "very complicated" but has the advantage of being less controversial and more acceptable to utilities. public.
"We've spent months and months trying to make sure it works for all parties," he said of the 2016 and 2021 negotiations, which included industry, utilities, advocates diversity and low-income consumers. Defenders.
Pacera added that autopay eliminates the need to switch to two separate accounts.
With the rise of community solar power in Illinois, there are now reliable online resources to help you compare different options. CUB, for example, details Illinois community solar offerings on its website.
EnergySage, an online comparison marketplace funded by the US Department of Energy, provides customers with ratings on local community solar projects.
Moskowitz said she advises people comparing community solar plans to consider the length of the contract, whether there are exit fees if you leave early, and how much you'll save on electricity. The best deals you'll see are 20% off ComEd Electric.
You can also check if your community solar company accepts checks or electronic payments and if automatic billing is required.
“We want people to be careful, read the terms and conditions and call us if they have questions and let us know if they have any issues,” Moskowitz said. "We haven't really heard about the problems, but if there are, we want to be there."
Johnson, Spooner and Dickerson serve to stay one step ahead when it comes to protecting the planet.
Dickerson traces his commitment to protecting the natural world back to his days as a Boy Scout, when leaders emphasized "leaving no trace" in the woods.
For Khashoggi, the first Earth Day in 1970 marked the spirits.
"I was a senior in college and they told me to think global, act local," Khashoggi recalls. "I said, 'OK, I can handle it.'
Sorting recyclables in the 1980s (Dickerson), getting rid of harmful detergents in the 1960s (Johnson) and volunteering with an interfaith environmental group (Sponsor), signing up for community solar was not a big problem. Even in their largest community, Dickerson said, the program is easily sold in an apartment building.
Residents wanted information, so members of the condo association's green committee called solar company representatives and created a board.
The biggest dispute was over a contract that could last up to 20 years, so the condo board was with the company, allowing them to cancel the contract without penalty.
Now the building's green newsletter, produced by Johnson, advertises community solar conservation, and the green committee is moving on to other projects, including electric car charging and composting.
"As a parent and then as a grandparent, it's like a legacy," Johnson said of the job. “How can I harm the world in which my grandchildren live? »
nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com
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