Illinois Solar Incentives

Solar is a great investment if you live in Illinois, and it seems like everyone agrees. That’s why there are a bunch of money-saving incentives that make it easier for Illinois homeowners to take advantage of green solar energy.

Illinois is currently ranked 15th in the country for solar power, with enough solar installed to power over 288,215 Illinois homes. Solar in Illinois has an expected growth of around 4,943 MW of power over the next 5 years, ranking 10th in the country (1). This means you’ll see more and more solar panels in your neighborhood, so now is the time to find out what solar energy has to offer your home.

Let’s take a look at all the incentives for going solar in Illinois. Here are some of the potential savings you could take advantage of when you go solar (depending on availability and your unique situation).

• Get a credit on your federal taxes with the Federal Solar Tax Credit
• Get credits to your monthly energy bills with Illinois Net Metering
• Earn credits for producing solar energy through the Illinois Shines Adjustable Block Program
• Avoid paying extra property taxes when you get solar panels installed on your home in Illinois
• Find out if you can get a rebate from your utility company just for generating solar energy
• Illinois Solar for All program helps low income households transition to cleaner solar energy

1. Federal Solar Tax Credit for Illinois Homeowners

One of the best solar incentives is offered by the federal government and is available to homeowners in Illinois. This one-time incentive is the Federal Solar Tax Credit (ITC) and can be applied to your federal taxes in certain situations. This recently improved incentive gives you back a whopping 30% of your entire system and can be applied to taxes you owe or carried over to the following year. Find out more about the Federal Solar Tax Credit.*

2. Illinois Net Metering

Net metering is a program in which homeowners who have solar panels can sell back their excess energy in the form of credits to their energy bills. This means when you produce excess solar energy during the day (most likely during peak hours), you can send that energy back to your utility company and they will buy it back from you! Net metering can keep your solar panels working for you their entire life. Illinois has a great net metering program in place which makes sure your utility company will participate. In Illinois, ComEd offers the top utility net metering program.

3. Illinois Shines: Adjustable Block Program

Another way to earn credits with solar energy is through a program called Illinois Shines. This is an Adjustable Block Program in Illinois in which you can earn one solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) for every megawatt hour (MWh) of energy your solar panels produce (2). Even better, you’ll be able to keep earning those credits for 15 years. The average residential system could see a savings of over $10,000!

4. Property Tax Exemption for Home with Solar Energy

The state of Illinois knows the values of solar panels on your home and helps out homeowners by not taxing them extra. When you get any improvements to your home, your property taxes may go up because of additional property value. However, that’s not the case with the special assessment for solar energy systems that Illinois offers. When your property is assessed for additional property taxes in Illinois, they will not charge you any extra for your solar energy system (3). 

5. Illinois Solar Rebates

In addition to offering the top net metering program in Illinois, ComEd also provides a rebate for their customers to help them go solar more affordably. This helps to decrease the out-of-pocket costs for the initial solar system installation. To be eligible for this $250/kW rebate, your system must not be larger than 2,000 kW. Find out more about ComEd’s solar panel rebate program and how to apply.

6. Illinois Solar for All Program

The Illinois Solar For All program gives greater access to clean solar energy for low-income communities (4). This program offers incentives that help make solar installations more affordable, allowing some low-income households to gain access to solar energy for their home with no up-front costs. In addition, ongoing costs and fees will not exceed 50% of the value of the energy generated from that system.

There’s never been a better time for solar energy in Illinois

Energy prices are on the rise in Illinois, but you can help fight back rising electricity costs with solar energy for your home. And with all these great incentives for going solar, you could be looking at a pretty easy decision. To find out which solar incentives are available for your unique situation, schedule a consultation with a Solar Energy Specialist who can walk you through the process and what your cost and benefits will look like. We install solar panels around the state of Illinois, including Chicago, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield.