The Champaign County Facilities Committee on Monday heard a presentation from Drew Mueller of Straight Up Solar on rooftop and ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) options for the courthouse, the adult detention facility (referred to in the meeting as Pope) and the juvenile detention center (JDC).

Mueller presented budgetary, not contract-ready, estimates and an incentive stack that includes Illinois SREC-style payments administered via the Illinois Power Agency, an Ameren smart-inverter rebate and the federal 30% “direct pay” provision for municipal and nonprofit projects. He said the incentives can reduce the example adult-detention system’s net cost from roughly $1.2 million to about $300,000 after incentives and rebates, and he modeled a payback just under five years and roughly $6 million in electric-bill savings over 30 years.

The committee was also briefed on timing constraints tied to the federal direct-pay safe-harbor rules: Mueller explained that to preserve the 30% direct-pay treatment for a project the county would typically need to safe-harbor the project by meeting a procurement milestone (contract signed and 20% of the project paid) by Dec. 31, with additional timing windows through July 4 that affect build-by deadlines in 2027–2029. He warned that domestic-content requirements still being defined could raise equipment costs if enforced.

Committee members asked about roof life, insurance and removal/replacement procedures, battery-storage costs and interconnection distances. Mueller said rooftop arrays on recent county roofs would use ballast mounting to avoid penetrations where possible and that removal/reinstallation for roof work typically is handled under insurance or by the installer’s service crews. He said battery storage is feasible but would materially increase upfront costs (roughly doubling the system cost in the example) and that full-site backup would require a larger solar-plus-storage system.

Members favored prioritizing the detention facilities over the courthouse given uncertainty about future work at the courthouse. The committee directed staff to work with county finance and procurement to develop a payment and financing plan, to request firm, contract-ready pricing from the vendor for selected sites, and to assess whether safe‑harboring the adult detention (Pope) site before year-end is achievable. Mueller agreed to send a short PDF explaining safe‑harbor steps and to coordinate site visits and firm pricing; staff asked that materials be sent to Kate (county staff) for distribution and follow-up.

Next steps noted by the committee include staff-finance coordination to determine whether the anticipated rebate funds from a prior geothermal project can be applied, a procurement timeline review to ensure a safe‑harbor strategy would meet county purchasing rules, and scheduling Ameren site verification to obtain firm pricing.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this report include Drew Mueller (Straight Up Solar), Chris Smith (county facilities staff) and county presiding officer Crane. The presentation was explicitly informational and not an endorsement of Straight Up Solar.