By Wendy Greenhouse

Like many other Oak Parkers, our family tries to live in an environmentally responsible way. We compost food waste, eat meat-free and organic, and drive electric cars. When we lived in a single-family house, we imagined installing solar panels on the roof, but it wasn't practical or, at the time, affordable. When we downsized into a condo, we faced the challenge of getting buy-in from our fellow owners to add a rooftop solar array, and the available space would have been too small to make much of a dent in our building’s electricity consumption.

So we were excited to learn about “community solar”: it makes solar-generated electricity available to anyone with a ComEd account--not only owners of houses and condos but also renters, small businesses, houses of worship, and any other entity with lights to turn on. The Citizens Utility Board’s website offers lots of information about community solar.

Some who market themselves as renewable energy providers actually sell you carbon offset credits rather than renewable energy itself. With community solar, you contract directly for the energy generated by your designated share of the solar panels in a local solar farm. That energy feeds into the central power grid, offsetting energy from coal-burning and nuclear-power plants because ComEd is required to use renewably sourced energy before drawing on conventional (dirty) sources. ComEd continues to bill you for line maintenance, taxes, and fees, but gives you a credit for the solar energy you use; your community solar provider separately bills you for that energy—typically at a discount from ComEd’s rate. So community solar not only lets you go green without owning solar panels but also lowers your electricity costs. These savings plus the accessibility of renewable energy through community solar amounts to equity in environmentalism.

“So community solar not only lets you go green without owning solar panels but also lowers your electricity costs. These savings plus the accessibility of renewable energy through community solar amounts to equity in environmentalism.”

Besides saving consumers money and fueling Illinois’ progress toward 100% renewable energy, community solar has other benefits. It brings construction and other green energy-related jobs to low-employment regions of the state, and it supports Illinois farmers by paying them for the use of underutilized land. Illinois’ largest community solar provider, Clearway Community Solar, is planting pollinator-friendly ground cover under its solar panels, for another environmental benefit.

We learned about community solar through a recent webinar presented by Trajectory Energy Partners, Clearway Community Solar’s outreach and education partner. The webinar was hosted by Seven Generations Ahead and PlanItGreen, two Oak Park environmental organizations that are also Trajectory partners. These local partnerships were important to us as an indication of support for Trajectory and Clearway. We were also impressed by the fact that Northwestern University has subscribed to Clearway for energy to power its campuses, reserving 100% of the capacity earmarked for the largest energy users at all 15 of Clearway’s northern Illinois solar farms. Clearway has many individual subscribers in Evanston, Wilmette, Highland Park, and other Chicago suburbs. Trajectory has scheduled a number of upcoming webinars, including one on Nov 5, hosted by SGA and the Interfaith Green Network, where you can learn about the application process, billing, how the solar energy reaches you, and more, and get answers to your questions: register here.

For congregations and non-profits, as well as individuals, Interfaith Green Network and Nexamp will host another webinar on Nov. 12: register here.

Community solar is a perfect match for Oak Park, where many residents would like to use renewable energy but might think it’s out of reach. With community solar, it’s within everyone’s reach. You save money while supporting Illinois’ green energy generation and economy and even encouraging the bee population. It’s a win-win for consumers and for the fight against climate change.