The first community solar project in downstate Illinois facilitated by the state’s 2017 Future Energy Jobs Act is now being built, showing both the potential of the wildly popular program and the challenges of implementing it. Washington D.C.-based Summit Ridge Energy won the rights to sell renewable energy credits for 18 projects in downstate Ameren utility territory and 23 in ComEd’s territory in northern Illinois. So far it’s signed up 8,479 customers to participate in the community solar installations — just over half the subscribers it needs to be fully subscribed. Once all the projects are constructed, subscribers will see collective savings of about $750,000 a year, according to the company. The company’s total investment will be about $300 million, adding almost 100 megawatts of capacity to the grid, and employing over 1,200 people during construction, Summit Ridge says. Source: Energy News Network