A community solar project funds scholarships at an Illinois school district
New Energy Equity switched on a 5.5 megawatt community solar project in Machesney Park, Winnebago County, Illinois, on land it leases from Harlem School District, and is funding a new student scholarship program at the district for the next 25 years. The 2 sides marked the milestone with a public ceremony on June 24, 2026. Community solar means a solar project that many people or organizations subscribe to and share, instead of paying to put panels on their own roof. The project generates 8.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, the company own figure, enough to power 1,002 Illinois homes.
The district pays no construction cost, and gets scholarships too
New Energy Equity structured the deal as 2 separate commitments, a land lease that replaces any construction cost to the district, and a scholarship fund that neither state law nor the lease required the company to create, according to the company own release announcing the project. The district collects lease payments and bill credits across its 9 schools for the 25 year life of the deal. New Energy Equity will pay 10,000 dollars a year in student scholarships for the same 25 years, 250,000 dollars in total. The first 4 scholarships went to members of the Harlem High School class of 2026, Ana Besevic, Melina Coletta, Haley Fulton and Parker Lipinski.
Today we celebrate more than the completion of a project, we celebrate the beginning of a transformative partnership between our school district and New Energy Equity.
Dr Terrell Yarbrough, superintendent, Harlem School District. Source 1.
Illinois residents can subscribe to community solar too
Community solar in Illinois works through a state program called the Adjustable Block Program. It lets any ComEd customer in Illinois, not only a school district, subscribe to a share of a solar project and get a bill credit for their share of what it produces. Illinois created the program under the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016 and expanded it under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in 2021. Kyle Marchesseault, vice president of marketing at New Energy Equity, described how that works for this project.
This is a community solar project, so customers can enroll and receive credits that reduce what they owe.
Kyle Marchesseault, vice president of marketing, New Energy Equity. Source 2.
A typical Illinois subscriber saves 10% to 20% on the solar share of their bill, and no single subscriber may hold more than 40% of 1 project, according to Citizens Utility Board, an Illinois nonprofit consumer watchdog.
The savings figures describe the solar share of a bill. The 40 percent figure is a separate limit, the largest share of 1 project a single subscriber may hold, plotted on the same percent scale.
Show the numbers
| Typical savings low end | 10 |
| Typical savings high end | 20 |
| Max share 1 subscriber may hold | 40 |
The project is a small share of a growing Illinois program
The 5.5 megawatt Harlem School District project sits inside a much larger pipeline. Illinois has about 250 megawatts of community solar projects pending under the 2021 law, according to Citizens Utility Board, enough for about 40,000 subscribers statewide. New Energy Equity itself says it has developed more than 600 megawatts of solar capacity across 16 states, a figure the company states in its own release, not confirmed by any other source here.
Project capacity from source 1, the company own release. Statewide pending capacity from source 4, Citizens Utility Board.
Show the numbers
| Harlem School District project | 5.5 |
| Pending statewide under the 2021 law | 250 |