Imagine 12 Grant Parks With Solar Arrays

That is how large the solar park is in central Illinois! It offsets power usage in Chicago’s airports and every firehouse, police district, library and city-owned building. (This blog post comes directly from this ABC 7 Chicago reporting.)

“Double Black Diamond” is considered the largest solar park east of the Mississippi.

By the Numbers:

• The solar farm is 4000 acres

• Can power 100,000 homes

• Supplies 70% of Chicago’s 411 municipal buildings, including the airports

• The city gets the remaining 30% of its energy through renewable energy agreements with Constellation Energy

• The city has invested $422 million for 100% clean electric power over the next five years—that's $84.4 million per year

• In 2024, Chicago paid $91.7 million for electricity

• Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Tovar: "It's a better deal because it is a fixed price, which is the value of a power purchase agreement, is that you get a fixed price over a certain amount of time. And so that will work in our favor in the long term, especially as you think about the volatility of the energy markets."

• In 2022, Chicago pledged to reduce its carbon emissions 62% by 2040

Want to join LWV Chicago’s Environmental Action Committee? Email us at environment@lwvchicago.org for access to our next meeting.