Rooftop Solar Program

Our Rooftop Solar Initiative

The rooftop solar program is a proposed initiative with Exelon that aims to revolutionize energy consumption for residents of Illinois. This proposed initiative involves the strategic installation of solar panel systems on thousands of homes across Illinois, providing opportunities for residents, particularly low- to moderate-income (LMI) families, to greatly reduce their electric utility bills.

Key Features of the Proposed Initiative

Through a dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) platform, EREA will coordinate the installation by optimizing the number of solar panels and their configuration on rooftops. This innovative approach not only ensures maximized energy generation but also streamlines the implementation process for homeowners. The anticipated collaboration with stakeholder partners allows for this program to be executed at no upfront cost to eligible homeowners, significantly easing the financial burden associated with adopting solar energy.

Benefits for Low- to Moderate-Income Families

The proposed solar initiative aims to revolutionize energy consumption for residents of Illinois. This proposed solar initiative involves the strategic installation of solar panel systems on thousands of homes across cook county, providing opportunities for residents, particularly low- to moderate-income (LMI) families, to greatly reduce their electric utility bills.

50 MW of Solar in Cook County and other counties in Illinois

A long-term vision for social and environmental benefit

This long-term EREA project proposes deploying 50 MW of solar energy across various sites throughout Illinois, generating clean electricity to support the state’s power grid.

The vision is to:

• Generate electricity: Produce clean, renewable energy for the local grid, potentially offsetting carbon emissions and contributing to a greener future.
• Support low-income households: Allocate net proceeds from electricity sales to subsidize electric utility bill payments for low- and moderate-income (LMI) households in Cook County, expanding an existing program administered by the Community and Economic Development Association (CEDA). The current CEDA program serves approximately 189,000 households (400,000 individuals).
• Repurpose underutilized land: Locate the solar farms on former landfill sites and/or Superfund sites within Cook County and Illinois. This approach transforms otherwise undevelopable property into productive assets, aligning with the EPA’s RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative, which encourages renewable energy development on such sites. such sites. 

Benefits of the proposed project:

• Environmental: Reducing reliance on fossil fuels, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating a positive use for contaminated or unusable land.
• Social: Providing financial relief for LMI households facing high energy burdens through subsidized electricity bills.
• Economic: Boosting local tax revenue, creating jobs in the renewable energy sector (installation, maintenance, supply chain), and stimulating economic activity within Cook County. 

Battery Storage Units

Battery storage units to amplify rooftop solar benefits

The proposed integration of battery storage units with the planned rooftop solar installations on thousands of homes in Illinois.

• Battery storage units to amplify rooftop solar benefits in Cook County
• The proposed integration of battery storage units with the planned rooftop solar installations on thousands of Illinois homes.

The primary goals are to:

• Maximize solar energy utilization: Capture excess solar energy generated during peak sunlight hours for later use, including evenings or periods of low solar generation.
• Enhance grid stability: Sell stored energy back to the grid during periods of high demand, reducing strain and contributing to grid modernization and potentially deferring expensive infrastructure upgrades.
• Expand LMI household benefits: Utilize net proceeds from selling excess energy back to the grid to further subsidize electric utility bill payments for additional Low and Moderate-Income (LMI) households, supplementing the existing program administered by CEDA.

Mechanism

• Capture and Storage: Rooftop battery storage units will store excess solar energy not immediately consumed by the household.
• Grid Integration: EREA, potentially leveraging its AI platform, will manage the dispatch of this stored energy back to the grid during periods of high demand, maximizing the value of the electricity sold.
• Financial Recycling: The revenue generated from these energy sales will be directed towards CEDA‘s program to assist LMI households with their electric utility bills, effectively creating a self-sustaining loop that benefits both individual homeowners and the wider community.