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Aurora residents could save money on their monthly electric bills under a new community solar power program, according to Aurora city officials.
Those savings could equate to around $105 per year for residents taking part in the program, said Arnold Schramel, co-founder of Progressive Business Solutions, the city’s energy consultant.
The solar program allows residents to subscribe to local solar farms and receive credits directly on their monthly electric bills without installing rooftop solar panels, purchasing equipment or changing their current utility provider, city officials said.
Subscriptions opened Sept. 1, with limited spots, and residents have already begun to sign up, said Schramel. The solar fields should go online by November, and do not cost the residents or city anything, he said.
“I think that will help people save a little bit on their energy bills at a time when the economy is tough,” said Aurora Mayor John Laesch about the program.
Once residents enroll in the program, the participating solar farm generates clean electricity that feeds into the local power grid, said city officials. Subscribers then receive credits based on their share of the solar farm’s output, reducing their monthly electricity bill through their existing utility provider, officials said.
Residents could receive 90% of their power from the solar panel fields under the program, Schramel said.
“By subscribing you can get clean, reliable power without installing solar panels on your own roof,” he said.
Powering the program are two 30-acre, five-megawatt solar fields at the northeast corner of the Aurora Municipal Airport and just south of Route 30. The city is set to receive 40% of the energy production from the fields, and the other 60% is designated to Aurora residents.
That residential-designated energy is enough to power around 1,300 subscribers, a small portion of the total 50,000 eligible accounts, said Schramel.
The solar developers aim to enroll subscribers ahead of the opening of the two city-owned solar fields in November, “so they’ll have a place to put all these electrons that they’re producing,” Schramel said.
“I do anticipate this will fill up in a couple weeks,” said Schramel at the Sept. 1 Aurora City Council Committee of the Whole meeting. “It’s not going to cover a huge percentage of homes in Aurora.”
The city’s portion of the produced energy is set to save it about $80,000 a year in energy costs for city-owned facilities, Schramel said.
The program will also generate around $80,000 in additional property taxes a year from the solar field sites, most of which would go to Kaneland Community Unit School District 302, which serves portions of Aurora and neighboring communities, Schramel said.
The community solar program comes three years after the city approved the lease of the city-owned sites for solar fields. It contracted with SunCode Energy to develop the solar fields in August 2023, said Schramel.
SunCode Energy built the two fields then sold the sites to Madison Energy Infrastructure this year, said Schramel. SunCode Energy is still working to get the fields online by November before handing off the project, he said.
SunCode Energy also hired Ampion, a public benefit corporation, to enroll subscribers, set up billing and allocate solar panels, among other administrative work for the solar program.
Aurora’s new solar program is one of many community solar programs in Illinois backed by state legislation and comes as utility rates are rising.
Community solar programs, first pioneered in the mid-2000s, aim to bring clean energy to the many American households that don’t have access to solar panels, often because residents can’t afford them, don’t own their homes or don’t get enough sun on their roofs, experts told the Chicago Tribune in 2022.
The state’s Future Energy Jobs Act established the state community solar framework in 2016, an effort that was further supported by state funding for community solar projects under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in 2021.
Schramel said his company, Progressive Business Solutions, started looking to use city-owned properties as solar fields four years ago. It has been working on the city of Aurora’s energy procurement for the last seven years.
Another Aurora solar project is set to come online by November, Schramel said. The city and solar energy company 548 Energy are working to build a solar field at the city’s Church Road pumping station to power the well there, a project that was approved by the city this year, said Schramel.
Another solar field development was also attempted in 2024 by Kane County, but Aurora City Council members voted against the project. City officials said at the time that the proposed solar farm, planned along the west side of Barnes Road and north of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks, did not match the city’s land use plan for the area, which called for estate-style housing, officials said.
The city forcibly annexed the property, giving the city control over its zoning and effectively stopping the solar farm project.
Schramel said Friday he was unsure of the status of that site.
Solar field developments are also ongoing in nearby Montgomery and North Aurora, Schramel said.
Residents interested in participating in the new Aurora solar power program can learn more and enroll at ampion.net/cityofaurorail, city officials said. Additional program information is available through the city of Aurora at http://www.aurora.il.us/CommunitySolar.
City officials said to contact Ampion directly with any questions at 847-579-4658 or at signup@ampion.net.
awright@chicagotribune.com
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