This water plant is one of EJ Water Cooperatives primary water production facilities. The plant filters and treats raw water from the nearby Embarras river producing clean drinking water for rural water homes, farms and businesses in southeastern / south-central Illinois. Electricity is a leading operating expense of the facility, served by nearby Norris Electric Cooperative. To lower electricity costs, EJ Water decided to install a 291 kW (DC) / 240 kW (AC) ground-mounted solar array. The 240 kW (AC) size was chosen since that was the highest possible size to backfeed the plant’s existing 480 Volt, 600 Amp electrical service. The plant has continuous operation 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Expecting steady increase in power prices in the year’s ahead, EJ Water management sought to reduce operating costs, hedge against electricity inflation, and capture lucrative state of Illinois SREC incentive and the direct-pay investment tax credit (ITC) available via the Federal government.