One Nonprofit, Sixty Megawatts: Illinois Keeps Showing Up

Ray: Welcome to Community Solar News!

Della: Ray, four stories today. That's a big rundown for a Thursday.

Ray: It's a good one. We've got a promotion, a nonprofit portfolio deal, a top contractors list, and a heads up out of Illinois.

Della: Illinois again.

Ray: Illinois again.

Della: I feel like I say this every week now. At some point we just rename the show.

Ray: Not yet, Della. Give it another month.

Della: A month. Fine. Is there a throughline today, or is it just leftovers from Tuesday plus more Illinois?

Ray: If there's a throughline, it's people and companies actually following through. A promotion for two people who were already doing the work, a second nonprofit deal from a company that clearly has a playbook now, a developer proving itself in two categories at once, and even the regulator giving people a heads up instead of just a surprise.

Della: I like that better than just naming the state again.

Ray: Both things can be true. Let's start light. New Energy Equity just promoted Jackie Chambers to President.

Della: Nice. What was she doing before?

Ray: Chief Investment Officer. She joined in 2024 out of Nexamp and PNC Energy Capital, and in that seat she helped finance more than five hundred million dollars in energy assets and closed on over three hundred megawatts of solar.

Della: That's a real resume attached to the promotion.

Ray: Right, and it's not a solo move. Bill Francis is stepping up too. He was VP of Emerging Markets, now he's VP of Development. He only joined in January, came over from ENGIE North America, and before that he'd acquired more than a hundred megawatts of distributed generation solar and storage assets.

Della: So two people who were already doing the work just got the titles to match.

Ray: Pretty much. Josh Kunkel stays CEO. And worth saying, New Energy Equity is owned by ALLETE, and between the parent company's backing and their own build sheet, they've now put up more than six hundred megawatts of solar across sixteen states.

Della: Sixteen states is a real footprint for a company most people think of as regional. And having a utility holding company behind you changes what you can bid on.

Ray: That's exactly it. Cheaper capital, longer patience, bigger pipeline, and a parent company that's already comfortable in the utility world. That's my hot take for this one. Watch this leadership team. When a platform promotes from inside like this, it usually means they're gearing up for more, not settling in.

Della: I'll hold you to that.

Ray: Okay, from personnel to project. This next one's a good one, Della.

Della: Common Energy just signed Clearbrook.

Ray: The Illinois disability services provider. Sixteen projects, sixty megawatts, all going toward Clearbrook's operations.

Della: Wait, sixteen projects for one nonprofit?

Ray: One nonprofit. Clearbrook runs more than eighty locations across a hundred sixty communities, serving over eight thousand children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This portfolio covers more than seventy of those locations.

Della: And what's it actually save them?

Ray: Up to twenty percent off their electricity costs over twenty years, and Common Energy is projecting about eighty five gigawatt hours a year of generation. They're putting the lifetime carbon avoidance at two billion pounds.

Della: Eighty five gigawatt hours a year is real scale for a portfolio built around one subscriber's own facilities, not a mixed pool of individual accounts.

Ray: That's the difference with this kind of deal. You're not chasing thousands of separate sign ups, you're closing one relationship and the subscriber base comes with it, which is exactly why these institutional deals are worth watching as their own category.

Della: Here's the part that actually matters to me. This is Common Energy's second nonprofit deal in the Chicago area in three months. They did Trinity Services earlier this summer, and between the two, that's twenty one projects now serving social service organizations in one region.

Ray: Their CEO, Richard Keiser, called it a natural fit. Said community solar gives an organization like Clearbrook meaningful savings it can put back into the people it serves.

Della: That's the pitch that actually lands with this kind of subscriber. Nonprofits don't have the balance sheet to just absorb rising energy costs, so twenty percent back, no equipment on their own roof, is real money they can redirect straight into programs.

Ray: And it's a model. Sign one nonprofit in a metro area, and you've got a reference customer for the next one down the street. I wouldn't be shocked if Common Energy has a third one of these lined up before the year's out.

Della: What's the catch, though? Twenty one projects across two clients is a lot of subscriber accounts to manage at once.

Ray: Fair question. The article doesn't get into their servicing model, but that's exactly why acquisition and subscriber management as separate specialties exist on this beat. Somebody still has to keep those accounts current.

Della: Illinois count for today: two stories, and we're only halfway through the rundown.

Ray: Third story takes us out to California. Renewable America and its EPC arm, Renewable America Services, both landed on Solar Power World's Top Solar Contractors list this year, the fifteenth anniversary list.

Della: How'd they place?

Ray: Renewable America came in third among solar developers in the state, and Renewable America Services was fourth among EPCs.

Della: Third and fourth is nothing to sneeze at in California. That market's crowded.

Ray: It's not, and the numbers back it up. Twenty two point six megawatts installed since the company started, and on the EPC side, more than twenty megawatts of solar plus ten megawatt hours of storage, with fifteen point four megawatts of that landing in 2025 alone.

Della: What's actually in that build sheet?

Ray: A few named projects. Foster Clean Power, split into two phases, four point four six and four point nine five megawatts DC, paired with ten point four megawatt hours of storage up in Humboldt County. Then Dos Palos Clean Power down in Merced County, four point two nine megawatts, and this is the one I want to flag. Bill discounts up to twenty percent for twenty six hundred customers.

Della: That's a real subscriber base for one project.

Ray: There's a commercial angle too. Three Pearl Crop facilities in Stockton where the solar now covers eighty six percent of their energy needs, about two hundred thirty thousand dollars a year in savings.

Della: So residential, income qualified, and commercial, all under one developer. That's a wider swing than most shops take.

Ray: Which brings me to the pipeline, because a good ranking this year doesn't mean much if the cupboard's bare next year.

Della: And?

Ray: That's the number that got me. Combined pipeline of a hundred ninety nine megawatts of solar and four hundred sixty five megawatt hours of storage. Their CEO, Ardi Arian, made the point that being ranked as both a top developer and a top EPC in the same state means they can take a project from interconnection straight through construction without handing it off.

Della: That vertical integration is worth watching. Fewer handoffs usually means fewer places for a project to slip its schedule, and fewer margins getting split between two different companies.

Ray: Hot take. That combination, developer and EPC under one roof, is going to keep showing up higher on these lists as more states tighten up on interconnection timelines. Owning your own construction crew is a hedge.

Della: I'll push back a little. It works when you've got the balance sheet to carry both sides. Not every developer can build an EPC arm from scratch.

Ray: Sure, but four years from founding to a top four ranking on both lists is the kind of timeline that makes other developers ask their board about it.

Della: And this is California only. If they're already sitting on a pipeline in the hundreds of megawatts there, don't be surprised if the next ranking has them showing up in a second state. Community-scale developers who prove the model out in one crowded market don't usually stay put for long.

Ray: That's the one to watch for next year's list. Quick heads up before we close it out, and yeah, Della, it's Illinois again.

Della: I'm not even going to pretend to be surprised anymore. What is it?

Ray: Illinois Shines put out two program notes this week that anybody filing there needs to see. First, Part One and Part Two application reviews are running past the normal ten day window right now, because of a spike in submissions. A lot of it's battery schematics.

Della: So if you filed recently and haven't heard back, that's why. Don't panic.

Ray: Right, build the extra time into your planning, don't assume something's wrong with your application. Second thing, and this one's easy to miss. Illinois Shines is reminding vendors that any marketing mentioning the federal investment tax credit has to be accurate and not misleading. They specifically flagged that the residential federal credit has sunset. The commercial credit is still around, but if your sales materials are still talking up a residential credit that doesn't exist anymore, that's a problem you want to catch before a regulator does.

Della: That's the kind of thing that sounds small until it's a compliance letter in your inbox. Update your materials this week, not after somebody flags it.

Ray: And the timing tracks. Two separate program notes on back to back weeks, both pointing at volume. If you're planning around Illinois Shines review windows right now, pad your timeline.

Della: Practical, not scary. Just know before you file, and make sure whoever's writing your marketing copy got the memo. Alright, that's the rundown, two things before we let you go.

Ray: One, our sponsor. This episode's brought to you by Our Power Co. Their line: you build the solar, we bring the community.

Della: They're a community solar customer acquisition company, filling subscriber capacity for projects like the ones we just covered. Got megawatts to fill? That's their lane.

Ray: If you're a homeowner or renter instead, there's a separate front door. Join community dot solar, to subscribe and start lowering your own bill.

Della: And full disclosure, this show is built almost entirely with AI, using tools from companies that cover their own energy and water costs instead of passing them to local households. On an energy show, that felt like the least we could do.

Ray: Every number today is sourced and linked in the show notes.

Della: One more thing. If you want the day to day between episodes, we publish something called The Solar Docket. Free daily rundown of what actually moved in community solar, docket filings, capacity block changes, program notices, with a quick read on what each one means. That's at community solar dot news, where you can also sign up for the newsletter.

Ray: Find us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and now on YouTube if you'd rather watch than listen.

Della: That's the community in community solar. We'll see you next time.