FARMINGTON-Summit Ridge Energy (SRE) announced recently the completion and energization of its ‘Fulton’ solar project, a 2.7-megawatt DC community solar farm comprised of nearly 7,000 solar panels. The project is built across 15 acres in Fulton County, Illinois. This marks a significant milestone for both SRE and the state, as Fulton is the first community solar project to come online in Ameren Illinois’ service territory under the Illinois Power Agency’s Adjustable Block Program and is the largest community solar project built in Illinois to date. Summit Ridge purchased Fulton from Minnesota-based Sunrise Energy Ventures, who developed the project, and hired Borrego Solar to serve as general contractor to oversee the project’s construction.
“SRE is proud to energize our Fulton project, especially given the challenges our team and the industry as a whole have faced over the last few months last few months navigating the impacts of COVID-19,” said SRE CEO Steve Raeder. “Fulton represents the first to come online out of 36 community solar projects we’re building across the state, which in total will provide cost-savings to more than 15,000 Illinois households over the next 25 years.”
“I’m proud to see one of Illinois’ first community solar projects begin generating clean energy here in Farmington,” said Senator Dave Koehler (D-Peoria). “Community solar is a great opportunity for people to save money that can’t directly install their own systems. This solar project will lower the electric bills of roughly 400 Illinois working families while decarbonizing emissions, cutting air pollution and creating new jobs and revenue in central Illinois. We need to make sure Illinois puts policies in place that will keep growing solar jobs and money-saving projects like this one.”
The Fulton project itself will serve approximately 400 households, all of which were subscribed by Arcadia. When fully constructed, SRE’s Illinois community solar fleet will generate approximately 150 gigawatt-hours per year of energy, representing approximately $750,000 per year in utility savings for customers located throughout the state.