Renewable energy developer and asset manager Scout Clean Energy has acquired the utility-scale Blue Sky Solar project from the RES Group.
The project has received approval for a Special Use Permit with Grundy County under the Grundy County Solar Ordinance. The project involves the installation of a 369 MW(dc) solar facility on 2,700 acres of land in Grundy County, near Morris, Illinois.
The project is expected to receive its full interconnection agreement in the third quarter of 2022. It will take close to two years to complete construction.
“The Blue Sky project is one of the largest solar projects approved to date in the PJM and is the second Midwest solar project Scout has added to its expanding renewables portfolio this year," Scout Clean Energy CEO and Founder Michael Rucker said. "Blue Sky is a uniquely located project enabling the supply of significant solar power to the Greater Chicago region. Blue Sky further diversifies our fleet across wind, solar and storage. Scout will close out 2021 with over 12,000 MW in our development pipeline and more than 1,200 MW of renewable projects in operation across the United States.”
The project is to begin commercial operations in 2024, when it is predicted to provide 585,000 MWh of carbon-free, renewable electricity to the PJM grid annually, enough to power more than 67,000 Illinois homes.
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Rucker added, “Scout expects to invest over $400 million to bring Blue Sky through construction and into operations and will support over twenty new jobs in the ongoing operations phase. The power generated from this project will enable Scout to bring the many benefits of low cost and carbon-free solar energy to central Illinois.”
He also said that this project was among the firm’s first utility-scale solar projects and a major step in its rapid growth as a leading renewable energy developer, owner and operator.
The project has a Property Tax Abatement Agreement in place with taxing jurisdictions in Grundy County. The county taxing jurisdictions are expected to receive $36.3 million in tax revenue over the life of the project.
