Woodstock District 200 scales back solar farm: ‘Frustrating process’

Woodstock School District 200 scaled back its solar farm but could revisit the topic after officials hear back about a second smaller system.

The solar farm project had been divided into a smaller section, which ComEd approved, and a larger section, which was denied. A second smaller system is under review by ComEd.

The school board voted Tuesday evening to move ahead with the smaller, already approved solar farm, which district documents indicate is 590 kilowatt-hours. The price tag is capped at $1.4 million, according to district records.

Before the vote, District 200 Superintendent Mike Moan said it had been “a frustrating process for many of us,” in part due to the utility company.

The district has spent about $200,000 on the project so far; mainly, the funds have been spent on architect and engineering fees, district spokesman Kevin Lyons said.

The district would have been out those dollars if the board opted to end the contract to terminate the project or end the contract to go back to bid; both of those were options on the table, but the board didn’t seriously review either of those.

The other options the board looked at included approving a change order it rejected last month or going with the smaller, ComEd-approved solar farm, which is planned for Woodstock North High School.

More than a year ago, the school board voted for the solar farm but canceled its first contract about a year ago after the contractor came back with a massive price increase. The district then went back out to bid for the farm and awarded a contract to Althoff Industries in April.

District 200 hit another snag on the project when ComEd came back and said it had to scale back the project because it was too large on the grid. Lyons said “ComEd says it doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle that much power generation from our initial project proposal in that location.”

The school board rejected a change order last month that would have scaled back the scope of the project. The board again voted down that change order Tuesday before voting 5-2 in favor of going with the smaller farm.

School board members also indicated that they wanted to stay in the loop about the second piece and could revisit the topic depending on whether it gets approved.