Frequently asked questions.

No. Rooftop solar is installed on your own property and requires ownership, a suitable roof, and often a significant upfront investment. Community solar is a shared installation built on separate land. You subscribe and receive bill credits. No panels on your property, no equipment, no upfront cost.

No. Renters, homeowners, and businesses can all subscribe to community solar. You just need an electricity account with the local utility. Illinois law specifically prioritizes access for income-qualified households.

Savings vary by project and subscription size, but typical residential subscribers save $25 to $45 per month on their electricity bills. There is no cost to enroll and no long-term commitment required for most programs.

No. You keep your existing utility. Community solar credits appear on your regular electricity bill as a line-item reduction. Nothing about your service changes. You just pay less.

If you move within the same utility territory, your subscription typically transfers with you. If you move outside the service area, you can cancel your subscription. There are no long-term lock-in penalties for residential subscribers in most Illinois community solar programs.

No. Kane Energy funds 100% of development, construction, and ongoing operations. The municipality contributes the land via a long-term lease and receives guaranteed annual payments in return. There is no capital outlay, bond requirement, or budget allocation needed from the city.

Kane Energy is contractually obligated to fully decommission the solar installation and restore the land to its original condition. A decommissioning bond is posted before construction begins to guarantee this. The land remains in the municipality’s ownership throughout the entire project life.

Residents subscribe to the community solar project and receive credits on their monthly electricity bills. Savings typically range from $25 to $45 per month. There is no cost to enroll, no equipment to install, and no change to their utility service. Illinois law prioritizes access for income-qualified households.

Ideal sites are vacant or underutilized parcels of 20 acres or more, with proximity to electrical infrastructure and favorable zoning. Former industrial sites, brownfields, closed landfills, and agricultural land can all be strong candidates. Kane Energy evaluates each site for solar potential, interconnection viability, and environmental compatibility at no cost.

Typical community solar projects take 18 to 24 months from initial agreement to commercial operation. The timeline depends on permitting complexity, interconnection queue, and construction scheduling. Kane Energy provides a detailed project timeline during the feasibility stage so your team knows exactly what to expect.

No. Kane Energy is responsible for all development, construction, operations, maintenance, and subscriber management. The city’s role is limited to providing the land and receiving the benefits. We provide regular updates and a dedicated contact, but the operational burden falls entirely on Kane Energy.

Lease rates depend on property size, location, and grid proximity. Typical rates range from $800 to $1,200 per acre per year, often exceeding agricultural rental income. Payments are fixed and guaranteed, with built-in escalators over the lease term.

Yes. A solar lease grants Kane Energy the right to use the surface of your property for the solar installation. You retain full ownership. You can sell the property, pass it to heirs, or use the remaining acreage as you see fit. The lease transfers with the land if you sell.

Kane Energy is contractually required to remove all equipment and restore the land to its original condition. A decommissioning bond is posted before construction to guarantee this. At the end of the lease, your land comes back to you clean and ready for any use.

No. Solar panels are mounted on driven-pile or ballasted racking systems that do not require concrete foundations or deep excavation. The ground beneath the panels is typically seeded with native grasses, which can actually improve soil health over the lease period. Many landowners find their soil in better condition after a solar lease than before.

Absolutely. The lease applies only to the acreage used for the solar installation. The rest of your property remains fully available for farming, grazing, or any other use. Many of our landowner partners continue farming the majority of their land.

Nothing. Kane Energy funds 100% of site evaluation, development, permitting, construction, and ongoing operations. The only cost you may choose to incur is hiring your own attorney to review the lease agreement, which we encourage.

A useful rule of thumb: about 100 square feet of unshaded roof per 1 kW of solar. A 500 kW system needs roughly 50,000 square feet. Ground-mount systems need about 5–7 acres per MW. We’ll tell you exactly what your specific roof or land can support during the site assessment.

Solar still works in many leased situations — either through a PPA the tenant signs, an arrangement with the landlord, or a green lease structure. We’ll help you figure out what makes sense given the lease term and the roof rights. Long lease terms (10+ years) generally make this much easier.

System production estimates already account for Illinois weather. Solar still produces useful power on cloudy days (just less of it) and through winter (snow typically slides off tilted panels within a day or two). The annual production estimate is what matters for economics, and that’s what your savings are based on.

Properly installed commercial solar protects the roof beneath it from UV, weather, and thermal cycling. We coordinate with your roofer on warranties and, if your roof is near end of life, we recommend reroofing before solar goes on. We don’t install on roofs that aren’t ready.

Equipment warranties cover panels (typically 25 years), inverters (10–15 years), and racking (20+ years). Production guarantees are standard in PPAs and can be added to direct-ownership projects. We monitor every system in real time and address performance issues as part of our O&M agreement.

On top of the federal 30%+ Investment Tax Credit (or Direct Pay for nonprofits), Illinois offers Renewable Energy Credits through the Adjustable Block Program for systems that qualify. Some utilities offer additional rebates or efficiency incentives. We’ll model all applicable incentives in your financial proposal.

No. Standalone storage is its own asset class and now qualifies for the full federal Investment Tax Credit. Solar plus storage is often the strongest combination, but for sites with high demand charges, even storage alone can deliver excellent ROI.

Modern LFP chemistry (lithium iron phosphate, more thermally stable than the NMC chemistry used in EVs) is warranted for 10–15 years and typically operates productively for 15–20 years. Capacity gradually declines (similar to a phone battery) but in a predictable, modeled way that’s factored into the financial pro forma.

Yes — with the right chemistry and the right design. We use LFP chemistry, which is significantly more thermally stable than the NMC chemistry in EVs. All systems comply with NFPA 855, UL 9540, and local fire codes. Siting and ventilation are engineered with safety as the top constraint.

It depends on which loads you want to keep running and for how long. A whole-facility, multi-day backup is rarely cost-effective — but selectively backing up critical loads (refrigeration, life safety, IT, key production lines) for 4–24 hours usually is. We help you decide where the line is.

Often, yes. Retrofit complexity depends on the age and design of the existing solar inverters and switchgear. AC-coupled storage is generally easier to retrofit; DC-coupled storage is more efficient but usually requires inverter changes. We assess on a case-by-case basis.

Battery equipment lead times have come down substantially from the 2022–2023 peak but still run 4–9 months for utility-scale systems. We start the equipment procurement process as soon as a project moves to engineering so the battery arrives ready for installation.

A backup generator only runs during outages and burns fuel the whole time. A microgrid runs every day — lowering your bill, providing resilience, and reducing emissions — and only falls back to backup generation when solar and storage can’t carry the load. Same resilience, much better economics, dramatically lower emissions.

Indefinitely, as long as solar production keeps recharging the battery and loads stay manageable. For multi-day events with heavy cloud cover, the practical duration depends on battery sizing and whether a backup generator is included. Most designs target several days of full critical-load operation.

Microgrid pricing scales with the size of the critical load and the level of resilience required. Order of magnitude — $2–$5M for a meaningful school or municipal microgrid; $10M+ for a hospital-scale system. Under an energy-as-a-service or PPA structure, the host can pay zero capex and buy capacity-as-a-service instead.

Yes — microgrids qualify for the federal Investment Tax Credit, accelerated depreciation, and (for nonprofits) direct pay. PPA, lease, and energy-as-a-service structures are all available, often making it possible to deploy a full microgrid with no upfront capital.

No. Microgrids operate connected to the grid by default and only island during outages. Once the grid is restored, the microgrid automatically resyncs and reconnects. The utility relationship continues; the dependence on it does not.

Often, yes — though it depends on the age and configuration of the existing solar. Older grid-tied solar systems aren’t designed to operate during outages and typically need inverter upgrades and additional switchgear to participate in a microgrid. We assess feasibility on a case-by-case basis.

Start with how many EV drivers you serve today and how that’s likely to grow over five years. For workplaces, plan for roughly one Level 2 port per 5–10 EV-driving employees. For retail, the right number depends on traffic patterns and dwell time. We’ll model your specific site rather than guess.

Level 2 for any site where vehicles park for hours (workplaces, hotels, multi-family, long-stay retail). DC Fast for short-dwell retail, fleet rapid turnaround, and highway corridors. Many sites benefit from a mix — mostly Level 2 with one or two DC Fast for top-up charging.

It can, especially DC Fast charging that creates large demand spikes. Two solutions: (1) on-site solar reduces the kWh charged from the grid; (2) battery storage smooths the demand peaks so you don’t pay punishing demand charges. We design with both in mind from day one.

No. You can offer charging free as an amenity, charge a flat or per-kWh rate, or restrict access to employees/tenants only. Networked chargers give you the flexibility to change the policy whenever you want.

Hardware is the cheap part. The expensive part is electrical infrastructure — trenching, conduit, panels, and transformers. Utility make-ready programs and state incentives typically cover a meaningful share of those costs. We give you a fully loaded cost estimate before you commit.

The Section 30C Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit was terminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 2025) for property placed in service after June 30, 2026. Given typical commercial project timelines, we don’t plan around it for new builds. The economics still work on utility make-ready incentives, Illinois state programs, MACRS depreciation, and operational savings — we model all of it for your specific site.

Yes. EV charging pairs naturally with solar — you produce clean power during the day and pump it directly into vehicles. Adding chargers to an existing solar site is usually straightforward; we evaluate the existing electrical capacity and recommend an integration approach.