• Posted: August 4, 2020
• better communities, Bob Hattier, Exelon City Solar

Solar energy offers a variety of benefits, not least of which is an environmentally friendly and renewable source of power. Thanks to a statewide renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that requires utility companies to source 25 percent of the energy they generate or sell from renewable sources by 2025, Illinois is a growing market for solar energy. In fact, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the amount of solar capacity installed in Illinois is expected to increase by more than 1,700% in the next five years. 

Turning sunlight into power for widespread consumer use requires solar fields, and Chicago is home to one of the largest urban solar power plants in the United States. Located on a 41-acre plot in the West Pullman neighborhood on the city’s south side and built entirely with IBEW Local 134 labor, Exelon City Solar is a 9-megawatt solar installation that houses 32,292 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels that tilt toward the sun as it moves across the sky, capturing the sun’s rays and converting them into 14,000 megawatt-hours of energy per year. The result? Enough clean, reliable energy to power up to 1,500 homes per year. 

While solar power generated at the facility is contributing to Illinois’ renewable energy future, it’s also a potential risk for any firefighters dispatched to the scene during an emergency. Unlike traditional power sources that can simply be turned off when firefighters arrive at the scene of an emergency, photovoltaic panels make their own power and require specialized knowledge and training to safely handle. 

This was the impetus for the Chicago Fire Department to call on the unionized electrical industry recently to ensure that the men and women responsible for keeping Chicagoans safe had the training they needed to stay safe themselves. Chicago Fire’s Engine Company 115 is located just a few blocks from Exelon City Solar in West Pullman and, recognizing that an emergency at the facility could jeopardize the safety of any firefighters dispatched to the scene, Captain James Fleming wanted to ensure that his company was prepared. 

“Knowledge of how to keep firefighters safe is the most important thing we wanted to get out of this training,” Fleming said. “If we don’t understand the dangers that exist at this facility, we could easily end up getting hurt ourselves and be unable to help anyone else who needs assistance in an emergency. More broadly, in almost any residential fire, there’s going to be ventilation on the roof, and with the proliferation of solar panels, we have to be able to work around them to do our jobs safely.”  

Luckily for Engine Company 115, Bob Hattier, one of the leading experts on solar panel safety in the country, works 20 minutes away from the facility as a business representative for IBEW Local 134. Hattier, who’s also an IREC Certified Master Trainer™ PV, has extensive experience developing solar safety training programs specifically for fire departments. To date, IBEW Local 134 has trained firefighters from more than 20 suburban departments and is in the process of planning a course for the entire Chicago Fire Department. 

After learning that the CFD was looking for specialized instruction at the facility from site manager Tracy Hall, a retired member of IBEW Local 697 in Northwest Indiana, Hattier developed a training program to familiarize firefighters from Engine Company 115 with the basics of solar safety, the layout of Exelon Solar City and areas of the facility where hazards would be magnified for them in an emergency scenario. For three days last week, Hattier provided each shift from the firehouse with this training, ensuring that any firefighter from Engine Company 115 who is called to the facility in the future will be able to safely do their job.

“This training was about awareness and understanding the hazards that are present with any photovoltaic system, but also how to stay safe at this particular facility,” said Hattier. “When firefighters are dispatched to a structure that has solar power for a fire or a medical emergency, we want them to feel comfortable around the equipment, know where the hazards are and how to avoid them so they can safely do their jobs.”

Moving forward, Hattier and the union electrical industry are continuing to look for opportunities to help protect those who protect all of us by expanding solar safety training programs for fire departments throughout Cook County and beyond. In partnership with the Illinois IBEW Renewable Energy Fund (REF), the training will soon be offered through IBEW locals statewide.

“Providing general training in solar safety or specialized training programs like this one for individual units that might one day have to respond to an emergency at a solar facility in their community is important to IBEW Local 134 because we live in these communities too,” Hattier continued. “This is a community service that’s free of charge because we want as many first responders as possible to have the tools they need to effectively do their jobs, finish their shifts and get home safely to their own families.” 

To learn more about the unionized electrical industry’s commitment to better communities in Chicago and suburban Cook County, visit our news page or contact us today.