Workers install solar panels at McHenry High School’s Lower Campus on Thursday, July 23, 2026. The school started getting solar panels on July 17, 2026, when Waukegan Road was closed allowing a crane to lift solar panels and other equipment to the school’s roof. (Photos provided by McHenry High School District 156)
Solar power for both McHenry high schools was something the district talked about for five years, Superintendent Ryan McTague said.
The discussion switched gears last fall, after the Big Beautiful Bill and the federal budget cut subsidies for solar power at the end of 2026. With that in mind, the McHenry Community High School District 156 school board agreed in December to go forward with the solar panels.
Over the past few weeks, those panels have been delivered and are being installed at both the east Freshman Campus and the west Upper Campus, McTague said.
By this coming December, both high schools will be solar powered – part of the district’s overall strategy of reducing its energy costs, he said.
“This is a long history, really” for energy efficiency projects at the district, McTague said.
Back in 2018, and knowing the parking lot would soon need extensive work, the district installed geothermal wells at the Upper Campus on Green Street, Director of Facilities Hugh Flack said.
The geothermal system circulates water through 400-foot-deep pipes. That water stays consistently in the 40- to 50-degree range, pulling hot air out of the school in the summers. In the winter, less energy is needed to warm the water and bring it up to temperature to heat the school, Flack explained.
McHenry High School’s Lower Campus started getting solar panels on July 17, 2026, when Waukegan Road was closed while a crane lifted solar panels and other equipment to the school’s roof. (Photos provided by McHenry High School District 156)
The district also converted the heating and cooling system at the freshman campus from electric to gas for further savings.
“It is one of the greenest 100-year-old buildings around,” McTague said.
District 156 “is saving $10,000 a month on the electric bill because of that” change to geothermal, Flack added.
Before the system went in, the district spent between $734,000 and $740,000 each year on electricity, Flack said.
Between the two schools, and including energy-efficient lighting at both, the district now spends about $600,000 on electricity.
Those electric bills should continue to drop when the district turns on the solar array.
As the district looked into solar, the board also needed to consider the condition of its two membrane-overlay flat roofs, McTague said. The board didn’t want to put in solar panels until those roofs were redone.
The plan had been to finish redoing both schools’ roofs over the next two years. Once those were done, the district would start putting in the solar panels, McTague said.
Deciding to accelerate that schedule, the district paid to finish both roofs this year, with the solar grid coming in behind the roofers. The Lower Campus is getting 523 panels and three inverters. The Upper Campus has 1,547 panels and seven inverters.
According to McTague’s report to the school board in December, the entire solar project has a $4 million price tag. The panels “are expected to reduce energy costs by at least 30% across the board,” McTague said.
After the first year of the system’s operation, the district will get:
▪ An inverter incentive grant of $305,000
▪ A Solar Renewable Energy Certificate incentive from Illinois of $180,000 over six years
▪ A federal solar incentive of $2 million
▪ An energy production offset of $150,000
The total rebates and incentives after year one are about $2.54 million.
The entire district investment will be paid off in five years, McTague said, and the expected return on investment after 25 years is estimated at $5.4 million to the positive.
A crane lifts equipment to the roof of McHenry High School Upper Campus on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Both McHenry High School District 156 schools are getting solar panels, set to start providing power in December. (Photos provided by McHenry High School District 156)
The new roofs have a 30-year-life span, the panels have a 25-year warranty and the inverters have a 10-year warranty.
“The system is designed to remain viable after 25 years with general maintenance and inverter replacement,” according to his report to the board.
It also means that the roofs and the solar panels will probably need work at about the same time, McTague said.
With less taxpayer dollars needed for energy costs, that means more funds can be used in the schools.
“We are setting a great example to students and to taxpayers while also saving money. The return on the investment will go back into the school community,” McTague said.
Originally from North Dakota, Janelle covered the suburbs and collar counties for nearly 20 years before taking a career break to work in content marketing. She is excited to be back in the newsroom.

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