Lyle Fricke spent his career as an engineer at Caterpillar. After he retired, he put solar panels on his own roof and watched his electric bill drop. Then he brought the idea to church.
The Community Word, a monthly Peoria-area newspaper, reported on Nov. 5, 2026 that St. Anthony parish in Bartonville, Illinois is finishing a 79-kilowatt, ground-mounted solar system. It’s built and waiting on approval from Ameren Illinois before it can power the church building and parish hall. The Cool Down independently confirmed the same project details on Nov. 12. Here’s what’s solid: the parish already runs one smaller array, a second and much bigger one is finished and sitting idle until the utility signs off, and the savings figures below come from the parish’s own numbers as reported by The Community Word.
From a Home Roof to a Bartonville Parish Solar Array
Fricke’s own rooftop panels came first. He used his engineering background to evaluate solar providers, then encouraged then-pastor Father Charles Klamut to consider the technology for the parish’s 10-acre campus on Skyline Road. A fundraising campaign called Building Hope paid for the first phase: an 8.8-kilowatt ground-mounted system next to the rectory and office building.
That first array is already running. It’s expected to save the parish about $1,200 a year.
Encouraged by those results, the parish moved on a second, much larger system this year.
| Array | Powers | Size | Projected Annual Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| First array (operating) | Rectory and office building | 8.8 kW | About $1,200 |
| New array (awaiting Ameren approval) | Church building and parish hall | 79 kW | About $11,000 |
Source: The Community Word, Nov. 5, 2026, citing parish figures.
What Still Has to Happen
The new, larger array needs Ameren Illinois to approve the interconnection before it can start generating power for the parish. The Community Word’s report doesn’t give a target date for that approval. Current pastor Father Jim Pankiewicz, who took over the parish a few months ago, has finished the paperwork for the system and the solar credits tied to it.
Combined, the parish expects the full solar investment to pay for itself within seven years. That figure comes from the parish itself, not from an outside cost audit, and the available reporting doesn’t break down the installation cost that estimate is measured against.
A Second Discount Through Community Solar
St. Anthony’s also subscribes to community solar, a separate program open statewide to customers in Ameren and ComEd territory. Illinois created the program through the 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act and expanded it in 2021, according to the Illinois Citizens Utility Board. Subscribers buy into a share of a large, off-site solar installation and get a credit on their electric bill for the power it produces, with nothing to install at home.
For the parish, that subscription offsets something easy to overlook: Ameren still bills the church certain fees even while its own panels generate power on-site. The community solar credits help cover those charges, according to The Community Word’s reporting.
Why It Matters to You
- If you belong to a congregation, school, or small nonprofit with roof space or open land: a member-funded campaign, rather than a loan, can cover a ground-mounted system in phases, the way Building Hope did here.
- If you rent your home or can’t put panels on your own roof in Illinois: the state’s community solar program is already running, not a pilot, in both Ameren and ComEd territory. You can look up projects through Illinois Shines or the Citizens Utility Board.
- If you live near Bartonville: this project won’t change your own bill, but it’s one more working example of what a modest, locally funded solar build can do over several years.
What We Don’t Know Yet
- Neither array’s installation cost has been published, only the projected savings.
- No date has been set for Ameren’s approval of the new, larger system.
- The seven-year payback estimate covers “the whole system,” per The Community Word, but the report doesn’t say whether that means both arrays together or just the newer one.
- The size of St. Anthony’s community solar subscription, and how much it saves separately from the rooftop and ground-mount totals, hasn’t been published.
Even with those gaps, one part of the story already checks out: a retiree’s own rooftop panels turned into a parish-wide project that two pastors, in succession, kept pushing forward.
“Cultivating a spiritual awareness of the environment is part of responsible stewardship to live with the awareness that all things are connected,” Pankiewicz told The Community Word.
The parish says the panels are meant to put Pope Francis’ 2015 letter, Laudato si’, into practice on the ground, not just on paper. Whether that holds up past the Ameren approval, and whether other small congregations follow, is worth checking back on once winter passes.
Sources
- The Community Word: Higher powered (Nov. 5, 2026)
- The Cool Down, via Yahoo: Retired engineer helps Illinois parish go solar, with $12,200 in yearly savings expected (Nov. 12, 2026)
- Citizens Utility Board: Community Solar in Illinois