Illinois Solar Rebates

Renewable Energy-Related Legislation and Loan programs in Illinois

To provide healthier environment, reduce operating cost and to conserve energy and resources the City of Chicago initiated Green Permit Program for building design, construction and renovation. This Green Permit Program is monitored and administered by the Chicago Department of Buildings (DOB). The department is responsible to provide the owners and developers of the building with incentive to build greener buildings. The permit process timeline is totally streamlined for projects which promise to maximize indoor air quality and conserve energy and resources. The permit can be achieved through this Green Permit Program within a time limit of less than 30 days and if everything goes well then within 15 days also. Allowed renewable technologies include passive solar space heat, solar space heat, photovoltaic, wind, solar water heat, biomass, geothermal heat pumps and small hydroelectric. This program is eligible in Industrial, commercial, residential and institutional sectors. The time required to avail the permit greatly depends on the number of green building elements involved in the project and the overall project complexity. There is also a possible waiver of consultant code review fees in case the project meets the most sustainability guidelines. The maximum amount that can be waived is capped at $25000. Generally all interested applicants, who want to avail this permit, are instructed to involve DOB in the early stage of their project design process. DOB will help them throughout the whole process which in return will guarantee shorter permitting process time. The green building certification involves two different Benefit Tiers. Each project is evaluated based on a series of requirements and then it qualifies for one of those two tiers. All commercial projects need to earn appropriate credits in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system which is developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. On the other hand residential projects only need to bag at least a 2 star rating under Chicago Green Homes Council. In addition to these certification requirements, projects need to have menu items which are green design strategies above certification. Both residential and commercial projects need to have 1 to 3 of these menu items in order to enter into green permit program. Chicago Department of Environment started the Chicago Green Homes program as a measure of green building’s elements. It is a checklist based rating system. Till 2009, at least 200 green homes were under this program. Green homes program also provide training material free of charge.

The Illinois Solar Energy Association (ISEA) in partnership with the Community Energy has started the Renewable Energy Credit Aggregation Program (RECAP) in January 2009 to provide incentive to customers using renewable energy systems. This program is eligible in various sectors like - industrial, residential, commercial, schools; state government institution etc. Normally photovoltaic is accepted as an eligible renewable technology under this program. ISEA generally purchases renewable energy credits in Illinois and sell them to Community Energy. And community Energy utilizes these RECs in the City of Naperville’s renewable energy program which it runs in partnership with the Naperville’s municipal utility. Though incentives are available only for solar photovoltaic; but incentives for small wind and solar thermal will be available in near future. There are certain requirements which must be fulfilled by the PV systems in order to get qualified for the program. The PV system must be located in Illinois. It must also be grid connected and have passed at least one year’s field testing. To retain the ownership of RECs net metering agreement will be needed. Normally there is no size limit for this program. But systems with less than 10 kW of AC capacity is being given preference by ISEA. Production of the system must be documented with quarterly estimates. But for systems with greater than 10 kW production monthly production data must be submitted to the department. The participant of this program must also get registered as the residential or commercial member of the Illinois Solar Energy Association. The amount given through incentive program is $0.065 per kWh and the maximum amount which is available in the year of 2009 is capped at $15,000. According to the terms the systems producing at least 35 Mwh will be accepted under this incentive program.

In the state of Illinois a special assessment of solar energy systems is available for property tax evaluation according to 35 ILCS 200. Under this incentive program if a property owner registers with a chief county assessment officer then the solar energy system will be evaluated at a price of conventional energy system. Eligible renewable technologies include solar water heat, passive solar space heat, solar space heat, photovoltaic etc. And this program is available in industrial, commercial and residential sectors. Equipments usable in a conventional energy system or components serving non-solar energy productions are not eligible for this exemption program.

According to S.B. 0583 enacted in August 2009, property owners can borrow money from local government to make any payments resulting from energy improvements on their real property under the Property Assessed Clean Energy or “PACE”. The customer has to repay the amount through an increased property tax assessment done in the following years. City, village or incorporated town municipalities have entered into agreements with property owners and contractual assessments have been finalized. Through these assessments only the property owner will avail funding for the installation or improvement of renewable energy technologies into their property.

Public entities like local, state, federal government or public school can avail grants of worth $5 million from Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic for community renewable energy projects providing energy for the applicant’s own need. The funding is received from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Eligible projects under this program include solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies. Any new solar thermal system approved by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC) is eligible to avail a grant up to $100,000. For solar PV system, it must be listed with UL or must have been operational for at least one year and an amount more than $100,000 can availed under this program. The grant is available under a competitive application process. Before approval of the grant a many factors are taken into consideration like application quality, applicant capacity, economic development, green house gas emission reductions, energy reduction, cost-effectiveness or project timeliness. Under this grant program at least 25% of the total project cost can be covered using the funds. Any other publicly supported programs cannot be used for this purpose.

Rebate programs

DCEO - Solar Energy Rebate Program

The Renewable Energy Resources Program (RERP) funded by the Renewable Energy Resources Trust Fund support promotion of development and use of renewable in Illinois. This rebate program is monitored and administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). All solar energy systems installed in Illinois after January 2008 are eligible to avail this rebate. 30% of an individual system’s cost can be funded by this rebate program. The maximum amount that can be offered through this rebate program is capped at $10,000. This is applicable in public and private schools, individual, business, non-profit organization etc. project with an estimated cost greater than $50,000 cannot be considered for this rebate program. Also projects that have external private funding available covering more than 30% of the total cost are not eligible to apply for. PV systems must be listed under UL or must be operational for at least one year to be considered for this rebate program. PV systems with a capacity of greater than 1 kW are eligible. Similarly solar thermal systems must be recognized by the Solar Rating Certification Corporation (SRCC). In case of solar pool heating system, the pool must be available to the general public in order to be eligible for this rebate program.

MidAmerican Energy - Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Programs

All residential customers of MidAmerican Energy are eligible for their incentive program in order to improve energy efficiency in their homes. Under this utility rebate program, various energy efficiency technologies are eligible like - solar heaters, water heaters, air conditioners, heat pumps etc. the incentive amount depends on the particular utility upon which the rebate is sought. All interested applicants must submit the equipment rebate application form to the MidAmerican after completion of installation of the energy system. The expiration date for this utility rebate program is January 2010.

Ameren Illinois Utilities - Energy Efficiency Rebates for Businesses

Non-residential customers of Ameren Illinois can easily available various incentives for installing energy efficiency improvements. The applicant must get the system pre-approved for availing any sort of rebates. All commercial customers of Ameren affiliates with an eligible rate schedule are eligible for this rebate program. The incentive amount is decided based on the equipment size, type and relative measure of energy efficiency. The maximum amount that can be availed from this incentive program is capped at $100,000 and the rebate approved for custom improvements cannot exceed 50% of the incremental project cost. Current program’s time period is from May 2009 to May 2010. Equipments installed or costs incurred outside this time period are not eligible for this incentive program.


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