ComEd Announces 80th Community Solar Project in Northern Illinois

The milestone project is one of three adjacent solar arrays in Streator constructed by Summit Ridge Energy to increase access to clean energy

STREATOR, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ComEd and Summit Ridge Energy today announced the completion of three community solar projects in Streator, Ill., including the 80th Community Solar project in ComEd’s northern Illinois service region. The projects will enable residents to save money on their ComEd electric bills while supporting the expansion of renewable energy and Illinois’ ambitious clean energy goals.

“ComEd and Summit Ridge Energy are proud to play a leading role in the growth of community solar in Illinois,” said Scott Vogt, vice president of strategy and energy policy at ComEd. “These three new projects, and reaching the 80th project milestone, demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to clean energy and we applaud Summit Ridge Energy for its leadership.”

The three Streator projects include more than 16,700 total solar panels and occupy 38 acres along North 14th Road in Streator. Combined, the projects will generate approximately six megawatts of clean energy, enough to serve the energy needs of between 1,000 and 1,200 average homes.

“We are pleased to be playing a significant role in making the ComEd region one of the nation’s fastest growing markets for community solar,” said Mark Raeder, principal, Summit Ridge Energy. “We expect to complete over 50 community solar projects in northern Illinois by the end of this year, helping ComEd bring reliable, clean energy to its customers.”

Summit Ridge Energy is the largest commercial solar developer and owner-operator in Illinois, with an energy portfolio of more than 250 megawatts across the state.

Enacted in 2021, Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) increases support for renewable energy to reach 40 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040. It creates nearly 9,800 megawatts of new solar capacity and increases funding for the Illinois Solar for All program -- which gives lower-income customers access to solar power --from $30 million to $70 million annually.

Community solar allows all ComEd customers to participate in the benefits of clean solar energy without installing solar panels of their own. Participants subscribe to a solar energy “farm” of solar panels owned by an independent developer and earn credits on their monthly ComEd bills for their portion of the energy produced by the project. In Illinois community solar customers can subscribe up to 110% of their last 12 months of electricity usage. Energy generated by the community solar project flows to ComEd’s grid and becomes part of the overall energy supply. By the end of 2023, ComEd expects to have doubled the number of community solar projects interconnected to its electric grid to more than 150, serving approximately 36,000 customers.

ComEd customers can visit www.ComEd.com/Solar to learn more about solar options, the interconnection process, and use the ComEd community solar calculator, which provides an estimate for potential customer savings.

ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 200 energy company with approximately 10 million electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Launched in 2017, Summit Ridge Energy is the nation's leading commercial solar company. Through its strategic partnerships and project financing expertise, the company develops and acquires pre-operational projects within the rapidly growing solar energy and battery storage sectors. In the past five years, SRE has deployed over $1.6B USD into clean energy assets. With a development pipeline of more than 2 GW, SRE will have more than 400 MW of PV online by the end of 2023, providing solar power to approximately 50,000 homes.