Illinois’ renewable portfolio standard (RPS) means the state is committed to producing 25 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025. That’s an ambitious goal, and to make it happen, the state has a program that rewards homeowners for helping Illinois solar incentives to reach that goal and make renewable energy the gold standard.
For each megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity your solar system produces, you will be granted one Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) that you can then sell in the market, creating a nice income stream for the life of the system.
Not only does the state of Illinois want to help you go solar –the federal government does, too. In addition to the policies mentioned above, you can reduce the cost of your solar energy system by 26 percent with the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Keep in mind that the ITC applies only to those who buy their system with a cash purchase or solar loan, and that you must have enough income for the tax credit to be relevant (though of course the credit can be split over multiple years).
To summarize:
Illinois has a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that commits the state to produce 25% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2025. Of that 25%, 1.5% must come from solar. Solar panel system owners can subsidize the cost of the purchase of their system by selling SRECs that their panels produce alongside their electricity in order to help the state meet the solar mandate.?
- IL State Incentive (SREC)?
The SREC Program is the state incentive offered by Illinois, utility customers that choose to go solar will receive this incentive in one lump sum payment year one of their system being installed if that system is 10kW AC or under. The SREC money is paid out over 5 years for those system in excess of 10kW AC.?
- ITC Incentive?
Federal ITC (Federal Investment Tax Credit) is a dollar-for-dollar tax credit that is equal to 26% of the total cost of your solar system. To receive the incentive, you will need to pay the amount of taxes that you are due to be refunded.
To see some of our very own customer testimonials check out Rich’s.?
*Update: SREC’s are currently closed in 2021.