Environmental Defenders to build community solar farm in Woodstock

The Environmental Defenders of McHenry County have received approval and funding for a new community solar farm to be built in Woodstock, in what the group’s executive director described as a “long-awaited dream project.”

The organization hopes to make the solar farm available to school and community visits, and it will have educational posts on site explaining how solar farms work and what native plantings will be onsite, Executive Director Cynthia Kanner said.

The solar farm is a collaboration between the Environmental Defenders and GRNE Solar, which will be installing the panels, and was made possible through funding from the Illinois Solar for All state program, according to a news release.

The state solar program provides incentives to build solar installations for low-income communities, and the 700-kilowatt farm will provide 70% of the energy it produces to low- to middle-income households in McHenry County, with another 20% tentatively set to members of the Environmental Defenders, the organization said in the release.

Several group members made a site visit on Monday and were told by GRNE that although part of the land is on a slope, it will not be graded for the solar panels, Kanner said.

“Environmentally speaking, that is huge,” Kanner said. “We’re going to be doing a whole restoration once the solar panels go in, planting native plants for pollinators; we’ll work with the natural contours of the hill.”

The property in Woodstock, which the Defenders own, is at 222 S. Dean St., just south of Route 14.

The goal is to have the solar farm completed by the summer of 2023, Kanner said.