These ground-mounted solar panels are providing renewable energy on the campus of Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois. Photo by Jenifer Garlitz.
When many of us think about using solar energy, we usually think of putting solar panels on our roof. If you cannot put solar panels on your roof, or you don’t want them, community solar is another way to join the solar energy wave. The owners of community solar projects pay the cost to build and maintain the solar panels of their solar farms. When we sign up with a community solar project, we are signing up for a portion of the solar project’s monthly energy output. The community solar company will use our home’s energy consumption to ascertain the size of our subscription. Each month, we pay the solar company for how much electricity comes from our subscription. The company reports our solar energy output to our electric company. Then our electric company adds credits to our electric bill. The nonprofit organization Citizens Utility Board (CUB) has a comparison chart for us to evaluate different community solar companies. Subscribing to community solar will probably lower our electric bill, and it is a way to support clean and renewable energy. I have subscribed to a community solar project. It will be operational soon, and I can hardly wait until I see those solar credits on my electric bill.
If we have a house roof or garage roof that is in full sun, it is definitely worth looking into installing solar panels on our property. If we can’t install solar panels on a roof, another option is to install solar panels that are mounted on the ground instead of on a roof. To investigate buying solar panels for our roof or land, contact a few solar companies for a free quote. The solar companies use Google maps to view the sun exposure on our roof. The companies will ask how much electricity we are using. Based on that information, the companies will tell us how many solar panels we need and give us a cost estimate. If our roof is more than ten years old, we may want to consider a roof replacement before installing solar panels.
There are a few incentives to buying solar panels, besides the obvious benefits of saving money on our electric bill and doing something important to mitigate climate change. If we own our own solar panels, we can deduct a percentage of the cost of our solar panels from our federal income taxes. This is called the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit. Also, when our solar panels create more energy than we are using, the extra electricity is sent back to the grid, and we receive credit on our electric bill for the electricity. This is called “net metering”. ComEd, Ameren, and MidAmerican are required by IL law to provide net metering. Net metering helps cover our electricity costs on cloudy days and at night when our solar panels are not producing energy. It may be possible for us to install solar panels with no upfront cost by leasing or through a Power Purchase Agreement. Usually customers have the option of buying the solar system at some point in their contract. For more information on installing solar panels click on this link to CUB’s website.
Join the clean energy wave by subscribing to community solar or installing solar panels. Community solar makes solar energy accessible to everyone. This is fantastic news for all of us who want to do something to reverse climate change and do something to help clean up our air!
Thumbnail/banner image by Romolo Tavani on Adobe Stock