HERSCHER — If it seems as though solar panels are sprouting up like dandelions, it might be because more people — and now school districts — are seeking the electricity savings promised with the use of the renewable energy resource.

Herscher Community Unit School District 2 is the latest to finalize plans to install solar panels on its land, following in the footsteps of Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District 307, which finalized plans with the same solar company earlier this year.

During its April 10 meeting, the Herscher School Board approved plans with California-based ForeFront Power for solar farms at three school sites: Herscher, Bonfield and Limestone.

The projects passed mostly unanimously, with 6-0 votes for the Herscher and Bonfield projects and a 5-1 vote for the Limestone project, as member Joe Powers voted against it.

However, since the meeting, the company has informed the district that it would not be pursuing the project slated to go up near Bonfield Grade School, and instead is moving forward only with the Herscher and Limestone projects.

Superintendent Rich Decman said the company decided that the Bonfield project, which would have been less than an acre, would not be economically viable.

“The size of the project didn’t warrant the cost for the upgrades to the ComEd [infrastructure],” he said. “Just because it wasn’t a very big solar project at all at Bonfield, from their perspective.”

The project slated for the Herscher Complex, located on the district’s farmland west of its current bus garage, will include between 25 and 30 acres of ground-mounted solar panels, Decman said.

The district owns approximately 60 acres of farmland in Herscher which it rents to a local farmer. Decman noted the farmer would still be able to lease the other half of the land not taken up by the solar panels if he chooses.

“We’ve got to work that out with him, but we are going to make sure he is made whole and doesn’t lose anything on this,” Decman added. “He has been very gracious to work with and very receptive. Want to keep it that way.”

The Limestone project will include approximately five acres of the same kinds of panels.

Unlike BBCHS, the Herscher district will not be installing any rooftop panels.

The possibility for rooftop panels at Limestone and Herscher was explored, but the company did not believe it would be worthwhile due to the age and condition of the rooftops, Decman said.

Decman also noted that the projects don’t cost the district anything to pursue. Meanwhile, the energy savings will offset the increased utility costs expected when the district’s fleet of electric buses arrive.

The district purchased 25 electric buses and charging infrastructure through a federal Environmental Protection Agency grant program; the first electric bus is expected to arrive in August at the earliest.

“We are basically leasing our land and getting about 15 to 20 times more than what we are now, plus a 10% discount on future energy produced by that solar power [site], on both of them,” he said.

Both Herscher and Limestone projects will be community solar sites, meaning the energy produced there will go back into the power grid for community use, and the school district will receive the power at a discounted rate because of state incentives for renewable energy.

The panels won’t appear until next spring at the earliest, as the company has to work with ComEd and go through the permitting process.

“They’ve got to jump through a bunch of hurdles and get approvals from the various different governmental agencies, things like that,” Decman said. “The earliest I am being told for start of construction would be next spring.”