The Ultimate Guide to Illinois Solar Incentives
Illinois solar incentives and tax credits save you 60% or more.
Illinois solar incentives and federal tax credits can cover 60% or more of the purchase price of solar for homeowners in Illinois. Read on to find out more about each of the incentives available to homeowners in Illinois.
This guide to Illinois solar incentives Covers:
The Illinois Shines Solar Incentive
The Federal Solar Tax Credit
Net Metering
The ComEd Solar Rebate (which we suggest you skip)
The Naperville Solar Rebate (only for Naperville utility customers)
Certasun will apply for your Illinois solar incentive and either apply for or provide all the information you need to take advantage of any other solar incentive available to you.
Illinois solar incentives and federal tax credits can cover 60% or more of the purchase price of solar for homeowners in Illinois. Read on to find out more about each of the incentives available to homeowners in Illinois.
This guide to Illinois solar incentives Covers:
The Illinois Shines Solar Incentive
The Federal Solar Tax Credit
Net Metering
The ComEd Solar Rebate (which we suggest you skip)
The Naperville Solar Rebate (only for Naperville utility customers)
Certasun will apply for your Illinois solar incentive and either apply for or provide all the information you need to take advantage of any other solar incentive available to you.
Illinois Shines Solar Incentive: 25-40%
Illinois has one of the most generous solar incentives in the country: Illinois Shines (also formally known as the Adjustable Block Program). Under Illinois Shines, your system produces a solar renewable energy credit (SREC) for each megawatt-hour of electricity produced over the first 15 years it operates. Illinois utilities are required to purchase these credits to comply with state requirements.
The Illinois Shines incentive can cover an additional 25-40% of the cost of your system. For the average customer, this can be $10,000 in additional savings. Certasun will apply for this incentive on your behalf and guarantees the amount we put in our agreement with you.
Illinois Shines Solar Incentive: 25-40%
Illinois has one of the most generous solar incentives in the country: Illinois Shines (also formally known as the Adjustable Block Program). Under Illinois Shines, your system produces a solar renewable energy credit (SREC) for each megawatt-hour of electricity produced over the first 15 years it operates. Illinois utilities are required to purchase these credits to comply with state requirements.
The Illinois Shines incentive can cover an additional 25-40% of the cost of your system. For the average customer, this can be $10,000 in additional savings. Certasun will apply for this incentive on your behalf and guarantees the amount we put in our agreement with you.
Federal Solar Tax Credit: 30%
Homeowners can take advantage of a federal tax credit (the “Residential Clean Energy Credit”) that can cover 30% of the cost of solar. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the amount of federal income tax you would typically owe, and is claimed on your federal tax return. For the average solar system, this can be worth $10,000 or more. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 increased this credit to 30%.
Federal Solar Tax Credit: 30%
Homeowners can take advantage of a federal tax credit (the “Residential Clean Energy Credit”) that can cover 30% of the cost of solar. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the amount of federal income tax you would typically owe, and is claimed on your federal tax return. For the average solar system, this can be worth $10,000 or more. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 increased this credit to 30%.
Net Metering
Residential solar systems typically export at least 50% of the energy they produce to the grid because solar production typically exceeds household use during many afternoons. Of course, the opposite is true at night.
With net metering, your utility gives you a credit for any exported electricity so that you benefit from all the electricity your solar system produces. The value of exported electricity varies by utility.
ComEd Customers: you currently benefit from ComEd’s one-to-one net metering; this means that customers will be compensated for the full value of their excess production. However, ComEd net metering is changing to be much less favorable in 2025.
Net Metering
Residential solar systems typically export at least 50% of the energy they produce to the grid because solar production typically exceeds household use during many afternoons. Of course, the opposite is true at night.
With net metering, your utility gives you a credit for any exported electricity so that you benefit from all the electricity your solar system produces. The value of exported electricity varies by utility.
ComEd Customers: you currently benefit from ComEd’s one-to-one net metering; this means that customers will be compensated for the full value of their excess production. However, ComEd net metering is changing to be much less favorable in 2025.
ComEd Solar Rebate
ComEd began offering a rebate to residential solar customers in 2023 called the Renewable Energy Distributed Generation Rebate. Customers claiming this rebate can receive $300 per kW DC of their solar capacity. For a typical 9kW system, that would be $3,000. This rebate comes with some tradeoffs, and our detailed analysis suggests that, although it may sound attractive, the ComEd solar rebate is not a good deal for the typical customer.
Naperville Solar Rebate
If you live in Naperville and get your electric service from the Naperville municipal electric utility, you may be eligible for an additional Naperville solar incentive. Naperville offers a rebate of $250 per kW AC of system size capacity, with a maximum of $1,750.
Funding for this program is subject to availability and is not guaranteed, but Certasun will apply for any Naperville solar rebate for which your system is eligible.
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