Another suburban courthouse is running on solar energy.
3,900 solar panels gather rays on top of the Skokie Courthouse and the top level of the parking garage next door.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and others stood among the panels on a bright but chilly Tuesday morning to cut a ribbon for the $5.9m project.
The county says the panels will generate more than 1,737 megawatt-hours of electricity each year - or about half of what’s needed to run the courthouse on Old Orchard Road.
County Bureau of Asset Management Energy Manager Kate Buczek says that’s the equivalent of what it takes to power 150 homes for a year.
Commissioner Kevin Morrison says recent violent weather shows how important it is to respond to climate change.
This project is bigger than the one on the Markham Courthouse, which went online last August.
The county has 17 other solar panel projects in the works as it aims to fully power its buildings with renewable energy by the year 2030 as part of its Clean Energy Plan.
Buczek says the county expects to collect rebates and incentives from the federal government and Com Ed that will lower the cost of the projects in Skokie and elsewhere.
The federal incentives are through the Inflation Reduction Act.
