The Chicago City Council approved a 25 year land lease to Exelon Corp. and SunPower Corp. yesterday, to build a 40 acre solar power plant on the polluted and vacant International Harvester plant, in Chicago's South side West Pullman neighborhood. The ordinance calls for a lease term of 25 years with an option to continue the lease for 25 more years after the initial lease term ends. The agreement stipulates that Exelon will pay the city $110,000 a year for the lease, and the city will assume $1.3 million of the environmental clean up costs. That includes asbestos-contaminated soil and removal of underground tanks. If other tanks are found, the city will split the costs with Exelon, although other environmental clean up costs will be assumed by the joint venture. more ›

This morning, the Chicago City Council will vote on whether to grant a 25-year land lease to Excelon Corp., ComEd's parent company. The $60 million project, a joint venture of Exelon and San Jose-based SunPower Corp is expected to create 200 jobs directly from the construction of the plant, and the nearly 33,000 solar panels are expected to save over 14,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Excelon will own and operate the plant, and plans to market the Solar Renewable Energy Certificates it generates. more ›

Paul Holland, the vice chairman and lead investor for Serious Materials, the California-based company that recently bought Chicago's shuttered Republic Windows and Doors plant, introduced President Barack Obama at a White House conference on green technology Wednesday. Serious Materials, which bought the shuttered Republic Windows and Doors plant on Goose Island, plans to re-open the plant later this spring. "Serious Materials is dedicated to reinventing the American building materials industry with a full commitment to green solutions, while reemploying today hundreds and tomorrow thousands of American workers," Holland said before introducing the President. more ›