Common Energy to provide community solar for Illinois disability services provider
Renewable energy platform Common Energy has teamed up with Clearbrook, Illinois’s largest home-based disability services provider, to cut energy costs with community solar.
The agreement covers energy utility bill savings for more than 70 locations around the Windy City and its surrounding area, Common Energy officials say. The company estimates that the portfolio of 16 projects will help lower Clearbrook’s electricity costs by up to 20% for 20 years.
The projects come in at about 60 MW total, Common Energy says, and will generate about 85 GWh of renewable energy every year.
“Community solar is a natural fit for an organization like Clearbrook, providing meaningful savings that it can use for its constituents while also lowering carbon emissions in the community,” says Richard Keiser, founder and CEO of Common Energy. “We’re proud to partner with Clearbrook and to support its important mission.”
The new energy source will help Clearbrook greatly cut down on carbon emissions at their sites throughout northern Illinois. According to Common Energy representatives, the project portfolio allows Clearbrook to avoid an estimated 2 billion pounds of carbon emissions over the projects’ collective lifetime.
Supporting children and families
The multi-project partnership is Common Energy’s second foray into the Chicagoland market in the past three months. The company also partnered with Trinity Services, an Illinoisan social services organization, earlier this summer. Between the two partnerships, Common Energy has begun development processes on 21 solar projects around the Second City.
The Clearbrook partnership in particular will support more than 8,000 children and adults impacted by intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Illinoisan organization provides “personalized support” to these individuals, including day programs, employment, residential care, and children’s programs.
“At Clearbrook, our mission is to support the people and families who count on us. Partnering with Common Energy on community solar means we can reduce what we spend on energy and put more toward the services that matter most,” says Jessica Smart, president and CEO of Clearbrook. “This is exactly the kind of values-aligned program we want to be part of.”
Clearbrook is the state’s largest provider of home-based services, Smart adds, with more than 80 locations in 160 communities around Chicago. The savings from the Common Energy projects will go back into those programs and services, the company says.
