Images: Earthrise Energy
Getting new solar projects connected to the grid can take years. Earthrise Energy says it’s found a faster way.
The Arlington, Virginia-headquartered independent power producer has brought its 270 MWac Archtop Solar Project online in Illinois by tapping into the existing grid connection at its Gibson City natural gas peaking plant, rather than waiting in the interconnection queue for a brand-new connection.
The Archtop project, which includes Gibson City Solar 1 and Gibson City Solar 2, officially entered commercial operation on June 9.
It’s the first project to use Earthrise’s surplus interconnection strategy. Rather than building new transmission infrastructure, the solar farm shares the existing grid connection with the nearby gas-fired peaker plant.
When the sun is shining, the solar project supplies electricity to the grid. When solar output drops and electricity demand spikes, the fast-start natural gas plant can ramp up as needed.
Earthrise CEO Jeff Hunter said the project shows there’s another way to bring new power generation online more quickly as electricity demand continues to grow:
Illinois needs additional energy resources now, and this project demonstrates that innovative use of existing infrastructure can accelerate deployment timelines while supporting Governor Pritzker’s vision for a clean and reliable energy future. We believe this approach has the potential to serve as a blueprint for future development across the region.
The approach also sidesteps one of the renewable energy industry’s biggest bottlenecks: waiting for permission to connect to the grid. Instead of entering MISO’s traditional interconnection queue, Earthrise secured approval through the regional grid operator’s surplus interconnection process, which allows new generation to make use of existing transmission capacity.
Scott Halleran, Earthrise’s vice president of asset management, said the project’s early performance is in line with the company’s expectations.
“The early operating results reflect the type of coordination this model was designed to enable: solar generation when available, and peaker generation when other outputs decline and peak demand increases,” Halleran said.
Earthrise is betting this won’t be a one-off. The company says it’s developing roughly 1.5 GW of additional solar projects in Illinois using the same strategy. Those include Northwest Solar and Glacier Moraine Solar in Cumberland and Coles counties, Plum Valley Solar and Pride of the Prairie Solar in Will County, and Tilton Solar in Vermilion County.
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