Earth Week: How community solar is bringing clean energy to more Chicagoans
April 22, 2025
Earth Week: How community solar is bringing clean energy to more Chicagoans
A community solar project is helping to bring clean energy to hundreds of Chicagoans
A solar energy project based in Chicago’s south suburbs is helping to bring clean energy to hundreds of Chicago homes and businesses.
Reactivate is a developer, owner and operator of renewable energy solutions and projects that focus on working class, low and moderate income households.
One of its more recent projects is Verduin, one of the first “community solar” installations located within an environmental justice community in Cook County.
Verduin is located in Chicago Heights, but customers don’t have to live near the project to subscribe. It could be located miles away, but it must be in the same utility service territory as the customer.
The 5,200-solar panel array currently occupies 20 acres of of what was once vacant farmland.
“There are a lot of households that, for a multitude of reasons, cannot put solar energy directly on their rooftops. [It] might be due to aging infrastructure or they might be renters and not have the access,” ReActivate CEO Utopia Hill said.
“Community solar are smaller projects that are connected to the grid that allow households to subscribe. You don’t have that upfront economic expense,” Hill said.
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By subscribing, customers offset their own electricity costs. Nothing changes about the electricity flowing in from the grid, but customers receive monetary credit on their electric bills for their portion of energy produced.
“ComEd’s role is interconnecting these facilities to our grid,” said Neena Hemmady, the Vice President of project and contract management for ComEd. “We’re seeing huge growth in this area. We are at 173 community solar installations online right now. We have 700 more in the queue.”
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As the demand for electricity surges in Illinois, developers are looking for creative ways to meet the need.
An example of community solar, on a much smaller scale, is on display in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
The “Smart Flower” powers a portion of the Renaissance Collaborative, a former YMCA turned into affordable housing.
“This one is mounted on a motorized tracking base, and the solar panels are in the shape of flower petals. It actually tracks the sun,” Mark Milby, the Senior Director of Programs at nonprofit organization Elevate said.
“It generates about 40% more solar energy than a typical flat solar array,” Milby said.
The Smart Flower serves as not only an energy source, but also an art installation and educational resource for the Bronzeville community.
“It gives us a beacon to green energy in the Bronzeville community,” Oji Eggleston, the Executive Director at the Renaissance Collaborative, said.
In 2023, according to the Department of Energy, clean energy jobs grew at more than double the rate of job growth in the rest of the economy.
“In an urban environment, you can’t put solar everywhere all the time, especially in a multi-family housing setting like this,” Milby said. “This is a great example of ways to integrate solar into an urban landscape.”
To learn more about community solar, visit the Illinois Shines website for a list of approved vendors and projects.
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