ForeFront Power to develop 5.6 MW of solar across 3 school campuses for Huntley Community School District 158 in Illinois

ForeFront Power and Huntley Community School District 158 announced a partnership to install 5.6 MW of solar photovoltaic capacity across 3 school campuses. The ground-mounted projects are expected to save the district $4.2 million over 20 years while offsetting 12.3 million pounds of carbon emissions annually.

ForeFront Power's energy solution allows schools to install solar without any upfront cost. Under this Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) model, ForeFront Power will design, permit, finance, install, and maintain the solar energy project for a 20-year term. In return, Huntley simply pays for the electricity generated by the system at a predictable price below their existing utility rate.

Each school that hosts a solar project will receive a kiosk with system monitoring for community members and teachers to see upon entering the building. ForeFront Power will also implement free energy lesson plans from Schools Power, a leading national education organization that provides school districts with standards-based renewable energy curriculum packages.

The solar projects will be constructed upon receiving interconnection approval from the utility and formal certification to receive Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) made possible by the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016. They are expected to produce 7.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity during the first year of operation, the equivalent to nearly 12.3 million pounds of carbon emissions removed from the grid according to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.