Clearway and OSF HealthCare Announce Community Solar Partnership in Illinois
OSF HealthCare subscribes 4.6 MW of Clearway’s community solar portfolio to lower carbon emissions
Clearway Energy Group (“Clearway”) and OSF HealthCare announced today that the health care provider has subscribed to 4.6 megawatts (MW) of Clearway’s community solar projects in Illinois. Once operational, OSF HealthCare’s subscription will be equivalent to eliminating the annual carbon emissions associated with over 1,000 cars from the road each year, helping the healthcare ministry move toward its sustainability goals.
“We’re thrilled to provide clean, local power to OSF HealthCare, whose model of care and service to community goes hand in hand with our mission to do good by our people and our planet,” said Valerie Wooley, Vice President of Origination at Clearway Energy Group. “In states like Illinois with groundbreaking programs, community solar enables families, businesses, and medical institutions like OSF HealthCare to access and support cost-saving and carbon-free local energy. We’re encouraged by the extraordinary demand for renewable energy and proud that partnerships like this will help Illinois reach its climate goals.”
“The entry of OSF HealthCare into a renewable energy purchasing agreement with Clearway is a significant achievement that puts our commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability into action,” said Michael Keefe, Manager, Energy and Sustainability, OSF HealthCare. “Purchasing Illinois Community Solar energy is layered with benefits: it reduces OSF utility costs, it benefits rural communities where many of our medical facilities are located, it supports the state of Illinois’ move to carbon-free energy, and it is emblematic of OSF’s ongoing innovation and leadership in healthcare.”
OSF HealthCare’s long-term commitment will support the development and construction of three Clearway community solar projects in Ameren territory, along with additional subscriptions to several of Clearway’s ComEd projects. The projects are supported by the Illinois Shines Community Solar Program, which was designed as part of the Future Energy Jobs Act. Clearway’s community solar portfolio in Illinois will create more than 70 jobs during construction as well as permanent positions once operating and represents a $160 million investment in the state.
Clearway is the largest community solar provider in the U.S. This news comes on the heels of an earlier announcement that construction began on Clearway’s Illinois community solar portfolio, which includes projects that will serve OSF HealthCare.
Community solar allows customers to subscribe to a local solar project, receive credits on their utility bill and reduce their overall electricity costs. Commercial, industrial, municipal, and residential community solar subscribers in the ComEd and Ameren utility service territories will receive bill credits directly onto their utility bills.
Community solar will support Illinois’ goal of supplying 25% of overall electric sales with cost-effective renewable energy resources by 2025.
# # #
About Clearway Energy Group
Clearway Energy Group is leading the transition to a world powered by clean energy. Along with our public affiliate, Clearway Energy, Inc., we own and operate more than 5 gigawatts of wind, solar, and energy storage assets in 26 states, offsetting the equivalent of nearly 8.8 million metric tons of carbon emissions for our customers, and we are developing a pipeline of new renewable energy projects nationwide. With another 2.5 gigawatts of thermal energy systems and conventional power owned by our public affiliate, we’re also helping provide reliable and sustainable energy to thousands more customers across the country. Clearway Energy Group is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in Carlsbad, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; Houston, TX; and Princeton, NJ. For more information, visit clearwayenergygroup.com.
About OSF HealthCare:
OSF HealthCare is an integrated health system owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. OSF HealthCare employs more than 23,600 Mission Partners (employees) in 147 locations, including 14 hospitals – 10 acute care, four critical access – and two colleges of nursing. Its physician network employs more than 1,500 primary care, specialist physicians, and advanced practice providers. For more information, visit www.osfhealthcare.org