Second solar farm nears completion in Edwardsville IL – The Edwardsville Intelligencer

Nexamp is doubling down on solar power in Edwardsville. 

The company erected one solar array in Edwardsville earlier this decade that generates 2.8 megawatts DC, covers about 10 acres and came online in July 2021. It’s located on the northern fringe of the city, north of New Poag Road and near the northern SIUE access road. Last fall, NexAmp prepared ground for another community solar array, 2.7 megawatts DC at the Solar II site, located at 5729 New Poag Road.

Keith Hevenor, Nexamp’s communications manager, said construction on this project is 90% complete, so they do not anticipate any significant traffic issues or impact to local residents. “There will be some activity as we wrap up connections, landscaping and other tasks,” he said. “Once the site is complete and operational, there is little need for physical presence other than vegetation management a few times a season and occasional inspections.” 

Hevenor explained how the company’s solar arrays work and how consumer can take advantage of them. 

“Community solar subscribers do not receive electricity from a solar farm,” explained Hevenor. “They continue to receive their electricity from the grid provider as always. 

“Community solar farm owners build a solar farm and connect it to the grid. They are credited with the power they feed into the grid through net metering. Because the solar farm owner does not have a utility bill to apply that credit to, they take on ‘subscribers,’ who each get a share of the credit and use it to reduce their regular utility bill.”

However much their share of the farm produces for them (it varies by month, typically more credits in the summer and fewer in the winter), their utility bill will reflect that negative charge, he explained.

“The community solar farm owner then invoices the subscriber for the value of that credit, minus the fixed discount,” Hevenor said.

A simplified example: let’s say you used $100 of electricity last month. Ideally, your share of the solar farm contributed $100 worth of electricity to the grid, so you got a $100 credit on your Ameren bill, which reduced it to zero. You then get an invoice from Nexamp for $85 (the $100 credit at a 15% discount). Hevenor said it never works out exactly because your utility bill varies monthly and the solar farm production varies monthly but the goal is to have it balance out over a 12-month average. 

So the subscriber is saving roughly 15% on their electric bill over the year and they are doing it with no extra fees, nothing to install and no-long term commitment. They pay only for the discounted credits that help reduce their Ameren bill. For people who cannot or don’t want to do rooftop solar, it’s a great option. Plus, participating in a community solar project means you are helping to enable more renewable energy on the grid. 

“Demand for community solar continues to grow in Illinois and across the country,” said Hevenor. “Nexamp has expanded significantly in Illinois in the past few years with more than two dozen live projects today and dozens more under construction. However, Hevenor said it is important to note that while this new project is co-located with the existing Edwardsville project, it is not an expansion. 

“The two projects were submitted individually in the first round of the Illinois Adjustable Block Program but only one was selected to move forward,” he said. “The second one was put on a waitlist until the program re-opened and Nexamp resubmitted it. So these are two separate projects, with two different interconnection points. Other than a shared driveway and fence line, the projects are independent from each other.”

“The 2.8 MW farm was one of our very first projects in Illinois,” he recalled.

According to Brian Bretsch, public and media relations manager for Ameren Illinois, solar arrays like this help solar developers through the interconnection process and setting up the billing processes that are designated by the generation facility developer.

Additionally, Ameren Illinois customers provide financing for these facilities by funding the renewable energy credit program administered by the Illinois Power Agency, which is one of the primary monetary resources relied on by developers of renewable generation in Illinois.

“Our customers also fund rebates for generators that connect to our distribution system using smart inverters, which are now installed by every developer of renewable generation,” Bretsch said. “Our planners integrate these facilities into their designs for the Ameren Illinois distribution system to enable these generation facilities to operate at full output capacity without affecting system reliability or safety.” 

Hevenor said finding a site for a community solar project is a complex process.

“First, you must find a landowner who is interested in leasing land for this kind of project,” he said. “Second, that land has to be within easy access of a suitable grid transmission line or substation to which the solar farm can connect. And third, the land has to be suitable for solar development, with proper sun exposure and topography. The site in Edwardsville was one that met those criteria.”

As to why these are two separate projects, most of that has to do with Illinois community solar policy and facility size limits, Hevenor said. “At the time these projects were submitted to the Illinois ABP, the project cap size was 2 MW AC, so we submitted two separate projects. One was approved initially and was completed in 2021. The second one was approved in 2023 and is nearing completion now.” 

Hevenor said when Nexamp designs a solar farm, they account for the variations in sunlight and weather. Solar panels still produce power on cloudy days via indirect light, similar to old solar calculators that worked in any kind of light, though the display was brighter in direct light. He said they know that they’ll produce more power on longer summer days and less on shorter winter days, so all of that is taken into account when allocating credits to subscribers. 

“Production on the solar array varies depending on weather, length of sunlight hours and other factors,” Hevenor said. “The project is modeled based on an analysis of historical solar irradiance and designed and built to deliver a specific energy output over time. Solar farms generate energy even on cloudy or rainy days, and although there are fewer daylight hours in the winter, the efficiency of the production is often higher in colder temperatures.” 

Solar arrays like these became possible after passage of the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act in 2017. It is designed to help the state transition to the new clean energy economy with new job opportunities and various consumer benefits. The state has mandated that 25 percent of its energy must come from renewable sources such as solar, hydro or wind by 2025. The Adjustable Block Program, also known as Illinois Shines, to support the development of new rooftop solar and community solar projects in Illinois, also came from that act.