Last year, there were plans in motion for a solar array to be installed on campus. The goal was for this project to be up and running by the end of this calendar year, but that’s no longer the case. This plan was in its final stages last year, as explained in an a previous article in the ‘Burnian. The college was waiting to start construction until the Illinois tax incentives and rebates were announced in April. The incentive announcements were postponed to June, and there ended up not being any at all.
The $3.3 million project would have been a lot more appealing if better incentives were passed in April, like the board had hoped, however it was not entirely dependent on that. The project was dependent on the approval of several committees, and a lot of bureaucratic red tape.
The project is still in motion. Data Services Administrator Kathleen Ruiter said in an email, “The Blackburn project is not dead yet.” She is also the sustainability committee chairman, and was very involved in the decision to invest in solar energy in the first place. The project is being delayed about three months, but it is still in motion.
Over the summer, the project was approved by the city zoning commission. The Board of Trustees also approved the solar array, and the finances for the project have been secured. Blackburn is going to have to take on some debt to complete the project, but the investment will be payed off in under five years. The incentives and rebates to finance the project have been finalized and will end up covering $1.5 million of the $3.3 million expenditure over the next five years. Blackburn already has a contract with Illinois Solar to start construction. So what are they waiting on?
The only thing left is to get state approval. The goal was to receive state approval by October or November of this year, but that is not going to happen. The earliest Illinois can approve of the project is now January 15, but more realistically it will be sometime in February. “It’s not a matter of ‘if’,” said Vice President of Finance and Administration Steve Morris, “but a matter of ‘when’.” Morris predicts that Illinois will try to approve the project as soon as possible in order to reach their goal to be 25 percent reliant on renewable energy by 2025.
Although Illinois decided not to have incentives or rebates this year for solar energy, there are still the renewable energy credits (RECs). For every kilowatt of energy the panels produce, the state will give Blackburn money. As mentioned in the previous article, the panels will also reduce the overall cost of electric utilization by two-thirds. The money saved with these solar panels will be used to offset the costs of the general operating budget.
Once the project is approved by the state, depending on the weather, the construction can begin right away. The panels should be up and running after about four months, according to Morris. He said, “Realistically they will be up by early summer.” The delay is not in any way Blackburn’s fault, but entirely reliant on state approval. Classic Illinois government.