It is probably the biggest Chicago building permit typo in recent history. Or, much less likely, it is the most expensive solar array project on a residential roofing site in history.
Chicago building permit data indicates a $575,512,749 permit was issued on Oct. 15 to “erect a photovoltaic array on the roof” of a house on S. Horman, near Brighton Park. (Chicago Construction News won’t publish the specific street address to respect the homeowner’s privacy.)
This “solar panel permit”, if accurate, would suggest that someone has figured a way to generate nuclear-level energy from residential rooftop panels — or the homeowner has an absolutely outrageous budget and would rather spend the money on solar power than to build a giant skyscraper in downtown Chicago. But the real explanation is probably much more mundane — someone’s slippery fingers added several digits to the permit value.
For what it’s worth, the project’s general contractor is Sunrun Installation Services, based in San Francisco, CA and Somerset, NJ.
