You are here

Solar Farm 1.0 (Completed)

Project History

  • Cruze Barn new address

    7/17/2019

    The Cruze Barn was moved as part of the agreement with the Student Sustainability Committee for their funding support of the first solar farm. It was moved by Trillium Dell, and it is now located at 316 Leman Lane, Congerville, IL.

  • Washington Post article: The next money crop for farmers: Solar panels

    2/22/2019

    The Washington Post published an article on February 22, 2019, about how farmers are making the transition to solar based on current corn and soybean price drops, and the implications of that.
View all project progress »

Project Family

Description

In November 2012, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved construction of a 20.8-acre solar farm to be located along the south side of Windsor Road between First Street and the railroad tracks. Initial construction was delayed due to changes in State of Illinois procurement laws.

Phoenix Solar South Farms LLC was hired by University in 2015 to design, build, and operate a 20.8-acre Solar Farm at the Windsor Road site. The Solar Farm will produce an estimated 7.86 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually or approximately 2% of the FY15 electrical demand for the Urbana campus making this site one of the largest university solar arrays in the country.

The University signed a 10-year power purchase agreement with Phoenix Solar to purchase all electricity produced by the Solar Farm and deliver it directly to the campus grid. In addition, the University will own/receive all current and future Renewable Energy C​ertificates (RECs) and emission credits associated with energy from the 4.68 megawatt (MW) Solar Farm.

Research estimates the Solar Farm will generate up to 91% of its original output even in year 20 of the project.
​
A Solar Farm Dashboard by AlsoEnergy provides hourly information on the solar array’s renewable energy production and impact to campus as well as solar data for research and education.

Related Projects

Website URL(s)

Project Video(s)

Solar Farm Generation (Tracked by Fiscal Year)

Annotations

  • FY 2016:

    not a complete year of production

View details for metric: Solar Farm Generation (Tracked by Fiscal Year)

Related Files

Project Team

  • Primary Contact:

    Morgan Johnston

    Project Leader:

    Kent Reifsteck

    Team Members:

    • Justin Johnston
    • Mike Marquissee
    • Keith Erickson
    • Wes Curtis
    • Teresa Temples
    • Larry Altenbaumer
    • Jack Dempsey
    • Kim Porter
    • Amelia Neptune

Dates

  • Proposed August 5, 2011
    Proposed by Jack Dempsey
    Approved November 8, 2012
    Approved by Christopher G. Kennedy
    Started January 20, 2015
    Started by Kent Reifsteck
    Completed December 11, 2015
    Completed by Kent Reifsteck

Themes

Project Location(s)

View larger location(s) map