The Illinois Solar Advantage

Illinois is a great place to invest in PV solar panels for your home or business. We have:

  • A great solar resource. More sun than Germany, the world leader in installed solar watts. More sun than Ontario Canada, home of the world's largest solar array. By the way, a wind turbine in Iowa can produce 43% more power than Illinois, but the solar resource in one of the sunniest places in the continental US, Death Valley, California can produce only 35% more power than Central Illinois.
    Solar Resources - Germany vs. USA
    USA Photovoltaic Resources
  • Good financial incentives and public policies. Illinois residents can take advantage of the federal income tax credit of 30% of the installed cost of a PV solar system till December 31, 2016. The Illinois Solar rebate program, also 30%, is available to customers of Ameren, Com Ed and customers of an electric or gas utility that impose the Renewable Energy Resources and Coal Technology Development Assistance Charge. Illinois has a net metering law, which requires the utility, to give the solar customer retail credit for all kilowatt hours not used by the customer, but fed into the grid. See the http://www.dsireusa.org/ website for more details on these policies and incentives.
    Net Metering
    Rebate Program for Renewables
  • The Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard, 25% of Electricity sales must be from renewable sources by 2025, three quarters of that from wind, and a solar carve out of 6%. RPS's are laws requiring that a certain percentage of the electricity sold to customers in that state be produced by some form of Renewable Energy, or in some cases, just cleaner energy. In 2010 the requirement was for 4% of total sales, the total increases yearly till 2025. The Solar Carve out is a feature not found in all state RPS's. Only 12 states have a Solar Carve Out or Solar Multiplier.
    RPS Policies
  • New developments: House Bill 1913, sponsored by Rep Karen May, which raises the retail net metering limit for solar and wind power from 40 kW to 2 MWAC and increases the peak limit from 1% to 5%, has passed the House Public Utilities Committee 23-0 on April 13, 2011. The bill now goes to the full Illinois House for a short debate. And House Bill 1943, sponsored by Rep Ann Williams, which includes up to 25 kW and 25-2000 kW carveouts in the Renewable Portfolio Standard, has passed the House Environment and Energy Committee 17-0 on April 14, 2011. The bill now goes to the full Illinois House for a short debate. The solar carve out for small systems means that owners of rooftop PV systems will be able to sell their renewable energy certificates to the utilities who are required by law to provide a greater percentage of renewable energy in the electricity they sell to Illinois customers, under the Illinois RPS.
  • All of these factors make getting your electricity form rooftop solar panels in Illinois cheaper than buying the traditional coal and nuclear based electricity from Ameren!