Kane County consultant says 2 MW solar, community solar and batteries could cut costs as data centers drive demand

Arnie Schrammel, a consultant with Progressive Energy Group, told the Kane County Energy and Environmental Committee on May 16 that the county's 2-megawatt solar field tied to the judicial center and jail is performing as planned and is saving the county money amid rising wholesale electricity and capacity prices.

Schrammel said the two sites use just under 9.5 million kilowatt-hours a year and the solar field is projected to produce just under 4,000,000 kilowatt-hours. "We're projecting savings around $200,000 a year," he said, adding that the savings compared with never installing solar could top $300,000 as grid prices rise. "The 3.9¢, that's really locked in for 25 years," he said of the solar supply price the county secured.

Why it matters: Schrammel warned committee members that capacity payments and transmission costs ' components often hidden inside retail bills ' have spiked recently and that growing electric demand from data centers is a new, large driver of those increases. He described capacity payments to peaker plants rising by roughly a factor of nine in recent auctions and said that trend is raising costs for all customers on the ComEd system.

Schrammel explained that a combination of fewer traditional baseload plants coming back online, faster growth in demand and the arrival of large data centers has tightened the region's supply-demand balance. "These data centers use incredible amounts of power," he said, noting that planned centers can use more electricity than many municipalities. He said the county benefits from having local solar and nuclear resources but that community solar subscriptions and batteries present practical near-term opportunities.

Recommendations and next steps: Schrammel urged Kane County staff to prepare a community-solar RFP so the county can subscribe to fields as they are built. He told the committee that community solar subscriptions typically guarantee 10'15% savings versus ComEd energy supply and estimated that putting the county's ComEd accounts into community-solar subscriptions could save roughly $100,000 a year. He also recommended evaluating 1'2 MW battery opportunities at the judicial center and considering 4'5 MW fields on underused county land such as the former sheriff's site.

Committee direction: Chair Mavis Bates and other members asked staff to move the RFP idea forward. Schrammel said he would work with procurement and sustainability staff and advised that county staff (including Austin Powell and Sarah Hinshaw, who were identified in the meeting as implementation leads) would need to be involved to place the county in financing queues when projects are sold.

Operational and environmental notes: Schrammel described other practical constraints: community-solar fields are often limited to 5 MW by program rules and take roughly two years to build; transmission upgrades can take a decade and attract local opposition; and establishing native-plant groundcover in large solar arrays can be difficult on gravel sites. Committee members reported earlier problems at the county's judicial-site array where a native-seed mix did not establish and maintenance responsibilities between the county and the solar operator were unclear.

Speakers

- Arnie Schrammel, Consultant, Progressive Energy Group (consultant)
- Mavis Bates, Chair, Kane County Energy and Environmental Committee (government)
- Roth (board member)
- Bill Grama (board member)
- Mike Frank (board member)
- Sarah Hinshaw, Sustainability staff (staff)
- Austin Powell (staff)

Authorities

- type: regulation; name: "PJM/ComEd regional capacity market"; referenced_by: ["Arnie Schrammel"]
- type: policy; name: "Clean and Equitable Jobs Act (CJA)"; referenced_by: ["Arnie Schrammel"]
- type: policy; name: "Future Energy Jobs Act"; referenced_by: ["Arnie Schrammel"]
- type: agency; name: "Illinois Power Authority"; referenced_by: ["Arnie Schrammel"]

Actions

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Discussion vs. decision

- Discussion points: projected generation and savings of the county 2 MW solar field; recent capacity and transmission price spikes; data centers' electricity demands; community solar subscription model and constraints; transmission and siting challenges; native-plant establishment difficulties at the judicial-site array.
- Directions: staff (Austin Powell and Sarah Hinshaw) directed to work with consultants and procurement to prepare a community-solar RFP and to evaluate battery and additional solar opportunities.
- Decisions: no formal county board approvals were taken at this meeting on additional solar sites; the committee endorsed staff action to proceed with planning and procurement steps.

Proper names

[{"name":"Kane County","type":"agency"},{"name":"Progressive Energy Group","type":"organization"},{"name":"ComEd","type":"organization"},{"name":"PJM","type":"organization"},{"name":"Illinois Power Authority","type":"agency"},{"name":"Clean and Equitable Jobs Act","type":"other"},{"name":"Future Energy Jobs Act","type":"other"},{"name":"Constellation","type":"business"},{"name":"Nelnet","type":"business"},{"name":"Hassett House","type":"organization"},{"name":"3 Mile Island","type":"location"},{"name":"Microsoft","type":"business"},{"name":"Amazon","type":"business"},{"name":"CyrusOne","type":"business"}]

Clarifying details

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Community relevance

{"geographies":["Kane County","Aurora (IL)"],"funding_sources":["community solar incentives","federal tax credits","state renewable programs"],"impact_groups":["county facilities","residents on ComEd service","farmers/landowners"]}

Meeting context

{"engagement_level":{"speakers_count":8,"duration_minutes":180,"items_count":6},"implementation_risk":"medium","history":[{"date":"2022-2023","note":"County previously approved 2 MW solar project and power purchase agreement"}]}

Searchable_tags":["solar","community_solar","capacity_prices","data_centers","batteries","transmission"],

Provenance

{"transcript_segments":[{"block_id":"1232.325","local_start":0,"local_end":120,"evidence_excerpt":"Good morning. I'm Arnie Schrammel. I've been working with the county, our firm Progressive Energy Group, for the last 5 years. Thanks, madam chair and board. I'm gonna give, the board a quick update on the electric spend estimates and the, green attributes for the county's 2 megawatt solar field by the judicial slash jail center.","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"5022.305","local_start":0,"local_end":20,"evidence_excerpt":"Yes. I am.","reason_code":"topicfinish"}]}