PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

On June 6, the City of Chicago signed a commitment to purchase 20 percent of its electricity from green energy sources within the next five years.

	© Spire Corporation/Spire Solar Chicago
Chicago's green energy goal could mean more installations like this 49 kW system on the city's Field Museum of Natural History; the system was installed by Spire.

But Tim Lindberg, a spokesman for Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), which supplies electricity to Chicago and other municipalities in northern Illinois, says it is still »considering« how much of a role PV will play. Lindberg says ComEd and the Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), the Washington DC-based auditing group that will manage the portfolio, are discussing how to include module equipment manufacturer Spire Solar in the deal. Spire is planning to install the first 500 kW of modules on the site of a former South Chicago landfill by next spring, the initial portion of a 2.5 MW plant contracted by Chicago and ComEd in 1999 (see PI 5/2001, p. 22; PI 8/2000, p. 20). »The details are still being developed,« says Lindberg.

Landfill gas will be the primary source of Chicago's renewable energy, which will at first make up only 10 percent of the city's total power purchases. According to a June press release, sources »such as wind farms and solar arrays,« will increase the amount of green power to 20 percent by 2006. The deal, which will purchase an estimated 80 MW from renewable energy sources, has been touted as »the largest purchase of clean power in the country.« Lindberg later qualified that comment by saying that the deal was »certainly one of the largest« in the country. The sale of green power to the city will entail an electricity rate surcharge. The money from this surcharge will go into a reinvestment fund to help attract and develop an unspecified new generation of renewable energy resources. An ERT June 6 press release claims that the organization will work with other Illinois municipalities »to help them follow the City of Chicago's lead.« They expect the fund to exceed $3 million within five years.