Oak Forest residents fuel solar power efforts
When James Stuewe installed solar panels at his Oak Forest home roughly four years ago, he was a pioneer. He claims the title of first in the city to install a solar system on his house.
Everyone in every city department had to have a look, as Stuewe recalls. The electrical work had to be revamped. Panels were moved to make sure the fire department had the access it needed. It was a process, but Stuewe was determined, with economics the driving reason.
“It worked out,” Stuewe said. “My electric bills dropped, especially in the summertime.”
In the years since, so many residential solar projects have popped up across the city that Oak Forest created a map that shows approved solar system sites, as well as projects that were canceled, failed, permit pending or have not received inspection yet. Even that is roughly six months out of date at this point, according to Economic and Community Development Director Ed Cage.
That trend is bound to continue after Oak Forest earned a bronze award this spring from SolSmart, a national designation program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. The designation recognizes the city for advancing solar energy growth by making it faster, easier
and more affordable for homes and businesses to add solar, according to a news release issued by the city.
“What’s nice about the award — which we certainly appreciate from SolSmart — it provides that attention and PR that goes out to some of the businesses,” Cage said. “That gets them talking about solar panels and what it can do to make them more efficient.”
Cage said the city’s efforts began with residents looking for opportunities to go green.
“What we noticed over a period of time is we had a lot of interest, a lot of permits that came through the city and the building department,” Cage said. “That activity pushed the city to react in a good way.”
The effort from the city’s building department includes continuing
education to keep up on how to review plans, conduct inspections of solar and more.
“They’re on the front end of this, because they have to be,” Cage said. “For the remainder of staff, it’s really about taking a lot of the information SolSmart puts together and putting it all in one location.”
Oak Forest created a landing page on its website to help explain the permitting process.
“The residents want to be more efficient and save some money, want to help the environment,” Cage said. “From our standpoint, people have been pulling regular building permits for additions and garages and sheds and things like that for many a year. Solar is relatively new. That educational point is important.”
Seeking the SolSmart award helped with that process.
“It’s a great program,” Cage said. “It really forces the municipality to look at what we’re doing for the residents and how we’re doing it.”
Cage said the award was well-received, especially because the effort was shared by a lot of people.
“The really nice thing about it is it’s a real team effort,” Cage said. “It reflects that everyone is working together for the same goal.”
In addition to residential interest, businesses have also reached out about solar in the wake of the award. While no Oak Forest businesses currently have substantial solar installations, according to Cage, at least one is examining the possibility of using part of a vacant parcel to put up solar panels.
If the business moves forward with those plans, it will join the likes of Howard Sommerfeld in harnessing the power of the sun. A company knocked on the door of the 50-year Oak Forest resident in the summer of 2019 and talked to him about installing a solar energy system.
“There are some benefits to it,” Sommerfeld said. “Being somewhat a green person, it sounded good. … All in all, the process was fairly smooth.”
A few years later, Sommerfeld said everything is still working well. He pays monthly for the solar system, but he said he is still “coming out ahead” probably $400 a year, despite the panels producing no electricity for roughly two months, when they are covered in snow.
Stuewe, a 30-year-resident of Oak Forest, has a similar deal. The panels were installed free but he pays a monthly fee. Still, he said he saves $300 or more on his summertime electric bills. He has been happy with the system in the long run, and some neighbors have followed suit by installing solar panels. Those numbers are bound to keep growing.
“People should take a good look at it and do this; in the long run, it saves them money,” Stuewe said. “This is a worthwhile thing to do. … I’m actually really happy with it.”