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SolarReviews is the leading American website for solar panel reviews and solar panel installation companies. Our industry experts have a combined three decades of solar experience and maintain editorial independence for their reviews. No company can pay to alter the reviews or review scores shown on our site. Learn more about SolarReviews and how we make money.
Last updated: January2025
Written by Ben Zientara Ben ZientaraBen Zientara is a writer, researcher, and solar policy analyst who has written about the residential solar industry, the electric grid, and state util...Learn more , Edited by Catherine Lane Catherine LaneCatherine has been researching and reporting on the solar industry for five years and is the Written Content Manager at SolarReviews. She leads a dyna...Learn more
Home solar power is the best thing for Illinois residents looking to save money on their electric bills. The state of Illinois offers excellent solar incentives to help homeowners go solar for less. In fact, Illinois solar incentives are so good that the state landed on our list of the best states for home solar. Income-eligible residents can even enjoy guaranteed savings thanks to the state’s Solar For All program.
Illinois has several solar incentive programs that should last for a long time, but one important program is going away soon; the state’s net metering program is set to change for installations completed in 2025, reducing the energy credits available to half or less of what they were before.
Incentive | Estimated average savings | Eligibility | About |
---|---|---|---|
Federal solar tax credit | $6,750 | All tax-paying U.S. citizens | Tax credit equal to 30% of installation costs, applied to federal income taxes |
Illinois Shines Adjustable Block Program | $7,500-$9,000 | Virtually all Illinois homeowners who install solar panels | Illinois Shines reduces the cost of solar panels by paying Approved Vendors (i.e. installers) an incentive for the expected energy production of the system |
Illinois Solar For All Program | $12,500-$15,500 | Illinois homeowners who have an income of 80% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI) | Same as the Illinois Shines program |
Ameren and ComEd Distributed Generation rebates | $2,100 for solar $4,050 for battery storage | Customers of Ameren or ComEd who own solar-only or solar-plus-battery systems with smart inverter capability | $300 per kW DC for smart solar inverters and $300 per kWh of energy storage. Customers must allow the utility company to occasionally control their devices to respond to periods of high grid demand. |
Special property tax assessment for solar energy systems | Savings vary | All homeowners who get solar installed | Allows homeowners to file with their county tax assessor to have their solar system treated the same as a conventional HVAC system for the purposes of tax assessment |
Quick Facts
Value: 30% of solar installation costs
Frequency: One-time tax credit, can be rolled over to future tax years
How to apply: File IRS Form 5695 with annual tax return
There is no specific Illinois solar tax credit, but the federal government offers the federal solar tax credit (formerly known as the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit or ITC). The Clean Energy credit applies to all U.S. residents who own a home on which they install solar panels.
The credit equals 30% of the cost to install solar and can only be claimed by homeowners with the tax liability to claim it.
The average solar panel system in Illinois will earn a tax credit of about $6,750. But, the value of the solar tax credit can depend largely on system size, which you can see in the following table:
System size | Estimated cost | Tax credit |
---|---|---|
5 kW | $15,000 | $4,500 |
7 kW (IL average) | $21,000 | $6,750 |
10 kW | $28,500 | $8,550 |
15 kW | $40,500 | $12,150 |
Taxpayers can claim the credit in the year after their solar installation is complete. The credit applies to all costs of installing solar panels or home battery storage but won’t include expenses like structural improvements that aren’t directly associated with generating solar energy.
Note: Lending companies often require paying the value of the solar tax credit toward a solar loan by 18 months to keep monthly payments low.
Quick Facts
Value: $73.71 - $83.87 per SREC (paid to Approved Vendor)
Frequency: upon completion of installation and incentive approval
How to apply: Find a solar installer in Illinois that is listed as an Approved Vendor
The Illinois Shines adjustable block solar grant program can help you save a bunch of cash when you go solar. The program provides up-front payments in exchange for the solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) a solar system is expected to generate in its first 15 years of operation.
One SREC is earned for each megawatt-hour of electricity generated by the system. We estimate that Illinois's average rooftop solar installation will generate about 19 SRECs per kW of solar panels installed over the 15 years of the program.
So for example, the average 7-kW system will generate 9,093 kWh in the first year (earning 9 SRECs), and by year 15, is estimated to produce 131,600 kWh (131 SRECs), which is 18.7 SRECs per kW of solar.
To participate in the program, a solar system owner must sign a contract with an Approved Vendor (generally a solar installer), who will either reduce the system's up-front cost based on the SREC value or pay the system owner after the program pays the Approved Vendor.
SREC values vary based on groups defined by geographic location and utility:
Group | 2024-25 SREC value | Included Utilities |
---|---|---|
Group A | $73.71 up to 10 kW | Ameren, MidAmerican, Mt. Carmel, co-ops and municipal utilities in MISO territory. |
Group B | $83.87 up to 10 kW $77.53 over 10 kW | ComEd, co-ops and municipal utilities in PJM territory. |
The average-sized solar system in Illinois (7 kW) is expected to generate around 131 SRECs in 15 years. With an average payment of $83.87 per SREC in ComEd territory, the program payment would equal an estimated $10,986. That's over half of the estimated $21,000 cost to install the system.
That same 7-kW solar system in Ameren territory would earn $73.71 per SREC, and the program payment would equal an estimated $9,656.
Again, these payments are made to the Approved Vendor by the Illinois Shines program. The percentage of the payments that are passed along to the homeowner will vary by Vendor.
Quick Facts
Value: $180.28 - $180.68 per SREC (paid to Approved Vendor)
Frequency: upon completion of installation and incentive approval
How to apply: Find a Solar For All Approved Vendor
The Illinois Solar For All (ILSFA) program is one of the best low-income solar incentives in the nation. It is specifically geared toward lower-income households that make 80% or less of the Area Median Income.
Owners of single-family homes and owners or managers of multi-family residential properties can qualify for reduced costs to install solar energy systems. Landlords can also qualify if a certain percentage of their tenants meet eligibility requirements. For more information, see the program’s consumer education resources.
The program is similar to Illinois Shines in that it provides payments for SRECs to Approved Vendors for the projects they install. What differs from Illinois Shines is that the ILSFA program requires the vendors to design systems that guarantee energy bill savings to the homeowner.
If you sign up for the ILSFA incentive program through an Approved vendor, you can choose whether to purchase a solar installation with cash or a loan or sign up for a lease or power purchase agreement (PPA).
If you pay with a loan, the loan payments must be affordable, with no prepayment penalties and no lien on your home. If you choose a lease or PPA, it must save you at least half of the retail value of the energy the system produces. The program’s residential solar brochure (pdf) says, “most participants will not have monthly payments to a solar company.”
Renters and homeowners without suitable roofs for solar roofs can still participate in the ILSFA program. Community Solar is when people subscribe to receive a portion of the energy from a large-scale solar installation. The energy generated by the system earns the subscriber a credit on their utility bills.
Under the ILSFA program, the subscription fees can be no more than half the value of the energy credits, meaning participants are guaranteed to save at least that much.
The ILSFA program also includes incentives for non-profit organizations and public facilities that serve low-income communities. The properties must be occupied by a Critical Service Provider (a list that includes hospitals, houses of worship, senior centers, food pantries, and libraries).
As with the residential incentive program, the non-profit program guarantees that participants will see at least half of the retail value of the solar energy their systems produce. The ILSFA non-profit brochure (pdf) has more information.
If you’re a customer of Ameren and ComEd, you can benefit from cash rebates that are paid directly to you. All you have to do is sign up for your utility’s Distributed Generation program, under which you allow the utility to control your solar inverter (or battery) temporarily.
Signing up for the program will earn you a rebate of $300 per kW of solar and $300 per kWh of energy storage. Systems must include a “smart” inverter to be eligible for the incentive. Ameren offers a document of specifications that determines what a “smart” inverter is (the most popular solar inverters qualify)
Quick Facts
Value: Varies with property
Frequency: Annual
How to apply: File form PTAX-30 with your county assessor
This one sounds complicated, but it’s fairly simple. Illinois law (35 ILCS 200/10) requires county assessors to assess the value of a solar energy system the same way they would assess the value of a conventional heating and cooling system.
Essentially, that means if you already have central heating and cooling, a solar installation should not increase the value of your property for tax assessment purposes.
Quick Facts
Average electric rate in Illinois: $0.158 per kWh
Net metering availability: Available for customers of Ameren, ComEd, and MidAmerican
Solar buyback rate: Full retail for systems completed by Dec. 31st, 2024. Supply-only after.
Net metering is a utility billing practice under which solar owners earn credit for any excess electricity their solar panels generate and send to the grid. Each kWh of energy is counted as a credit on the customer’s bill, and the utility applies the credits toward energy the customer pulls from the grid when the sun isn't shining.
Illinois’ current net metering program requires the big investor-owned utilities (Ameren, ComEd, and MidAmerican) to offer full retail credits for excess energy. Anyone whose solar installation is completed by December 31st, 2024 will qualify for the life of their system. Basically, if your solar installation is fully operational by the end of the year, you’ll have net metering.
People with solar installations completed on January 1, 2025 and after will only get partial credit for their excess solar energy. The maximum amount of credit is based on how much each utility pays for electricity from wholesale suppliers, known as the “supply” rate.
Here’s a breakdown of the supply rate from the three major Illinois utilities:
Utility | Avg. retail rate | Supply portion of rate | Supply percentage |
---|---|---|---|
Ameren | $0.145/kWh | $0.056/kWh | 39% |
ComEd | $0.14/kWh | $0.054/kWh | 49% |
MidAmerican | $0.11/kWh | $0.038/kWh | 35% |
Detailed information on supply charges can be found on the Illinois.gov website and MidAmerican’s tariff book (pdf).
The average cost of solar panels in Illinois is $21,000 before incentives for a 7-kilowatt solar installation. Once you factor in all of Illinois’ solar incentives, that cost can drop to as low as $3,800 — over 80% lower than the pre-incentive costs.
Average pre-incentive cost: $21,000
Federal tax credit: $21,000 x 30% = $6,300
Illinois Shines incentive: $8,800
ComEd Distributed Generation solar rebate: $2,100
Effective system cost: $21,000 - $6,300 - $8,800 - $2,100 = $3,800
A Tesla Powerwall 3 costs about $15,600 on average, bringing the total solar plus storage system cost to about $36,600 before incentives. This system is eligible for all of the above incentives plus an additional distributed generation rebate for the battery. That’s 71% lower than the pre-incentive cost.
Usually, when calculating the value of solar tax incentives, you must first subtract the value of any rebates that reduce the upfront cost of the solar power system. However, the Distributed Generation rebates in Illinois are more like a payment for expected future benefits, so we don’t think they need to be treated in the same way. That said, we’re not tax experts, so speak with a trusted tax professional to be sure.
Quick Facts
Cost of grid power: $0.158/kWh - 19th highest in the nation
Rate of increase in cost of grid power: 1.91% per year - 4th lowest in the nation
Median IL solar payback time: 2.5 years without battery, 7 years with
The incentives available to Illinois homeowners are among the best in the nation, reducing the payback time for the average solar installation down to just 2.5 years. That’s incredible!
In addition, low-income incentives like the Solar For All program, community solar projects, and more make Illinois an incredible place for clean energy. This is exactly what the state was hoping for when the General Assembly passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) back in 2021.
If you’re ready to start your solar journey, the next step is to find the best solar companies in your area and compare multiple quotes for solar panels.
Calculate how much you can save with solar incentives in Illinois
The USDA offers grants to agricultural producers and rural small businesses in Illinois under its Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) program. Other solar incentive programs like Illinois Solar For All help homeowners, landlords, and non-profits to go solar for less.
The average-sized solar installation in Illinois can pay back its cost in 4.5 years, as long as the owner claims all the available solar incentives, such as the federal clean energy tax credit, Illinois Shines payment for RECs, and distributed generation rebates from Ameren and ComEd.
Yes, currently, Illinois law requires the state’s largest utility companies to offer full credit for excess energy that a solar customer sends to the grid. This arrangement, known as net energy metering, is set to change for installations completed after January 1st, 2025.
Illinois does not offer state tax credit for people who install photovoltaic solar panels, but Illinois homeowners are eligible for the federal clean energy tax credit, which offers 30% of the cost as a credit to eligible taxpayers.
Illinois has the Solar For All program, which offers several ways to get solar panels installed for no up front cost and see guaranteed savings.
Ben Zientara is a writer, researcher, and solar policy analyst who has written about the residential solar industry, the electric grid, and state utility policy since 2013.
His early work included leading the team that produced the annual State Solar Power Rankings Report for the Solar Power Rocks website from 2015 to 2020. The rankings w...
Learn more about Ben Zientara