City unveils Accessible Solar project
Rooftop solar is coming to more low- and moderate-income Evanston households next year thanks to the city’s Accessible Solar program.
The city announced last month that it’s looking for a contractor to install solar panels on at least 20 Evanston homes. Bids are due Oct. 14, and a contract should be awarded by early next year, with projects scheduled for completion by the end of September 2026.
The city’s sustainability and resilience staff will manage the application process and identify potential participants. Then, the contractor will determine whether a building meets the technical requirements for rooftop solar and follow through with design, installation and activation of the system. Eligible properties can include up to four units, but must be individually owned and owner-occupied.
The Accessible Solar program builds on the city’s Green Homes pilot, which is providing energy-efficient retrofits to houses in the Fifth and Eighth wards. The new project focuses on rooftop solar and will be available to households throughout Evanston (in the 60201 and 60202 zip codes). Households with a wider range of incomes will also qualify.
Climate action cancelled at the federal level
The city is moving forward with the program even as federal agencies under the Trump administration are working to dismantle climate and clean energy commitments made by previous administrations and Congress.
On Oct. 2, the U.S. Department of Energy announced plans to claw back already-awarded grants for clean energy projects in “blue” states, including Illinois. The New York Times reported the same day that Trump threatened that “if Democrats in Congress did not vote for a funding bill to keep the government open, he would ‘do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them.’”
The Department of Energy also recently added “climate change,” “decarbonization” and even the word “green” to a growing “list of words to avoid” at its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy — “the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to dispute, silence or downplay the realities of climate change,” Zack Colman reported for Politico.
Evanston remains committed
Fortunately, funding for the $500,000 Accessible Solar program comes from a $211 million federal earmark for Illinois projects secured by Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Despite recent developments, Evanston Sustainability and Resilience Manager Cara Pratt said she remains confident that the program’s funding is secure.
Once the rooftop systems are activated, households will begin to see lower electricity bills. And Evanston will be one step closer to achieving one of its Climate Action and Resilience Plan goals: a 100% renewable energy supply by 2030.
Look out for more information from the city next year about community meetings on the benefits of solar.