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Oswego residents would share in power generated by community solar project · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Oswego residents would share in power generated by Community Solar Project. Written
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  by Eric Shelkoff. This article is being read by an automated voice,
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  brought to you by Everlet. Plans for a community solar project on
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  land in unincorporated Kendall County are progressing after Oswego Plan Commissioners recommended
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  it for village approval. A community solar project allows nearby residents to
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  share in the power generated by the project and receive direct utility
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  bill credits without installing equipment on their own. The Oswego Planning and
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  Zoning Commission on October 8 unanimously recommended approval of a proposal to
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  build a community solar project on approximately 36 acres at the southern
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  corner of Schlap and Plainfield Road, that is currently being farmed. The
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  project, reserves the northern corner of the site as open space, leaving
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  room for a future roundabout planned by Kendall County at the intersection
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  of Siemens Road, Plainfield Road, and Schlapp Road. Oswego Assistant Development Services
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  Director Rachel Riemann Schneider told commissioners. One Energy Renewables, the developers for
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  the project has a long-term lease agreement with the landowner, Specialty Oswego
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  LLC. The
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  project is expected to take up about 30 acres. Plan Commissioners recommended
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  approval of a special use permit for the project, and rezoning the
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  land from residential to agricultural use upon annexation to the village, subject
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  to conditions including that the project be set back seventy five feet
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  from nearby property lines. Village trustees will now review the proposal. The
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  project is expected to serve more than 1,000 residents, Nora Landers of
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  One Energy Renewables told commissioners. Residents and businesses in the village and
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  the Kendall County area would be able to participate in they program.
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  As a community solar project members of the Commed Utility Territory can
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  subscribe and receive a discount on their electricity bill, typically about 10
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  percent, landers said. Commissioner Rick Kuhn asked who would be able to
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  participate in the Community Solar Program. This project will serve the residents
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  That are most close to the
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  project Landers said. There will be an opportunity for those residents if
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  they so choose to sign up for the project and receive that
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  monetary benefit on their electricity bill. However, that up to their discretion.
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  Schools also would be able to sign up for the program. The
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  project also would make an estimated 9,000 annual contribution to the village's
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  capital fund as part of the annexation agreement. That contribution would increase
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  by 5 every five years. As proposed, the project would interconnect with
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  Comed's local distribution grid and participate in the Illinois Shines Community Solar
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  Program. Construction of the solar project is expected to begin in spring
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  2028 and be operational by that fall. Landers told commissioners that, during
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  normal operating hours, the project will produce no odors and minimal to
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  no noise along with producing very little traffic. In addition, she said
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  the solar panels that will be used in The
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  project mitigate glare. They're meant to absorb sunlight and not reflect it,
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  Landers said. That's because every electron lost would mean less Energy
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  to the grid and lost revenue. Vegetative screening along South Schlap Road,
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  Plainfield Road, and the southern parcel boundary would be installed to screen
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  nearby residents from the project. Where there is existing screening along the
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  southeastern portion of the property, One Energy Renewables will coordinate with neighbors
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  to determine if additional vegetative buffer would improve visual screening. If the
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  Village Board approves the plans, construction would begin in spring twenty twenty
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  eight and be operational by that fall. The project would be decommissioned
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  once it has reached the end of its life, which is typically
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  thirty to forty years, Lander said. The land would then be returned
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  to agricultural use. One Energy Renewables has constructed fifty-five projects across Illinois,
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  Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. In Illinois, we have eight operational community solar
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  projects, and an additional four are moving their way through construction. Landers
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  told planning and zoning commissioners during the meeting.