Chicago’s energy costs rising with new solar power from Swift Current Energy

CHICAGO (WLS) — A significant undertaking is underway about four hours southwest of Chicago, where city officials are investing in a large-scale project aimed at reducing the cost of powering America’s third-largest city.

Swift Current Energy has established a massive solar farm spanning nearly 4,000 acres, featuring 1.6 million solar panels. This solar park is touted as the largest east of the Mississippi and is seen as a potential solution to the escalating energy expenses faced by Chicago’s taxpayers.

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The ABC7 Chicago I-Team was given exclusive access to the massive solar farm this month.

Chicago city leaders have said their five-year contract with the solar farm will power 70% of the city’s properties.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the ABC7 I-Team obtained records showing the city’s energy usage and costs for the past seven years.

Records show from 2017 to 2024, the city used 14% less natural gas, but the costs for natural gas increased by 19%.

Electricity usage for the city increased by 11% in that time, but electricity costs went up 80%.

That disparity is starkest at some of the city’s major power-using facilities.

Notably, O’Hare International Airport stands out as the largest consumer of electricity in the city. Despite a 19% reduction in electricity consumption over the past seven years, the costs associated with the airport’s power usage have surged by 43%.

That pattern of electricity usage dropping while costs increased were the same at Midway Airport. City records show Midway’s electricity usage decreased by 14%, while its costs for electricity increased by 43%, just like O’Hare’s costs.

Chicago’s Department of Water Management (DWM) is the city’s second-largest user of power. The DWM owns and operates the Jardine Water Purification Plant, one of the largest water treatment facilities in the world.

Earlier this year, ABC7 was given an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the facility that the city says delivers safe drinking water to more than five million people.

From 2017 to 2024, DWM’s electricity usage decreased by 13%, while its costs increased by 59%.

Those figures are top of mind for Chicago’s Chief Sustainability Officer and Environment Commissioner Angela Tovar.

Tovar said the city’s contract with Swift Current Energy will deliver power from the massive central Illinois solar farm to city-owned properties, all at a fixed rate.

“It’s a better deal because it is a fixed price, which is the value of a power purchase agreement,” Tovar explained. “You get a fixed price over a certain amount of time. And so that will work in our favor in the long term, especially as you think about the volatility of the energy markets.”

Tovar said the city has invested $422 million for its contract with Swift Current Energy.

City records show over the past five years, the city paid more than $425 million for its electricity and $124 million for natural gas serving its properties.

With the future power source, the city of Chicago is claiming 100% of its power usage will come from renewable energy sources, all aimed toward reducing the city’s carbon footprint.

“We wanted to leverage our buying power so that we could help support the green economy,” Tovar told the I-Team. “Just through this action, the city of Chicago is reducing our carbon footprint by 290,000 metric tons. That is the equivalent of taking 62,000 cars off the road every single year.”