UPDATES

New bills in Springfield could bring clean energy jobs to southern Illinois

February 28, 2019

Taylor Clark | KFVS 12 CARBONDALE, IL (KFVS) – New bills part of the Clean Energy Jobs Act are in the process of getting in front of Illinois legislators. The goal being to make Illinois run exclusively on renewable energy resources by 2050. If passed, an estimated 40 million solar panels and 2,500 wind turbines…

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Solar seen as bright career path at Illinois community colleges

February 11, 2019

Lauren Robinson | Energy News Network Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act included funding to make solar training more accessible to lower-income residents. There was an energy about the 11 students gathered on a sunny December Saturday outside a South Side Chicago construction shop. Today, they’d put on their work gloves and protective glasses and put…

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More than 3,500 solar panels being installed at the city’s water reclamation center to generate power for Naperville

January 29, 2019

<b>Erin Hegarty | Chicago Tribune</b> Installation of more than 3,500 solar panels that could generate more than 1.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually is expected to begin this summer at Naperville’s Springbrook Water Reclamation Center. When completed, the six acres of high-efficiency solar panels will produce enough energy to power 145 homes a year,…

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Programs Train Workers To Meet Demand For Solar Installers

January 28, 2019

Ryan Denham | WGLT, NPR After the training, the 31-year-old received four jobs offers and moved to Colorado, where he installs solar panels on homes. “It was definitely a big move. But it did pan out well,” Laughlin said. Laughlin is one of thousands of workers who’ve benefited from a solar energy boom in the…

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Community Solar for IL’s Environmental Justice Communities

January 28, 2019

Samuel Garcia | NRDC Expert Blog The Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) mandates that at least 25 percent of the Illinois Solar for All Program’s incentives be allocated to projects located within environmental justice communities. On January 17, Elevate Energy and the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) held a stakeholder engagement session to address how the program will…

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Champaign County Board Approves 1200-Acre Solar Farm Near Sidney

January 25, 2019

Jim Meadows | Will Radio, Illinois Public Media At nearly 1200 acres and with a generating capacity of 150 megawatts, the solar farm would be the largest in the state, even bigger than a 99 megawatt project planned for Perry County in southern Illinois. Some county board members were doubtful about taking so much farmland…

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Solar panels to power 145 homes coming to Naperville

January 24, 2019

Marie Wilson | Daily Herald Naperville has been chosen as one of four municipalities across the state to receive a solar-power project through a nonprofit energy organization that powers 32 Illinois communities. Construction is set to begin this summer on a 1-megawatt solar array of 3,500 panels on six acres at the city’s Springbrook Water…

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Pritzker signs executive order joining the U.S. Climate Alliance

January 24, 2019

Cassie Buchman | Lincoln Courier Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed an executive order for Illinois to join the U.S. Climate Alliance, meaning the state will agree to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. The United States signed onto the Paris Agreement, a treaty that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in 2016. President…

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Governor Pritzker Signs Illinois on to the U.S. Climate Alliance

January 23, 2019

Statement from the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition about Governor Pritzker signing an Executive Order today to join the U.S. Climate Alliance: “While the Federal Government remains shut down, today’s announcement is an important reminder that the responsibility to protect citizens from the harms of climate change has fallen to the states. By signing on to…

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Total solar project number climbing to 40 in DeKalb County

November 30, 2018

Katie Finlon | Daily Chronicle DeKalb County proving to be fertile ground for energy source SYCAMORE – DeKalb County expects more than 40 solar energy projects will make their way through the county’s special-use permit process ahead of the Illinois project lottery early next year. The update comes after public hearings for 13 2-megawatt community…

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