Going Solar – Illinois Shines

Following the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (Public Act 102-0662), there are six project categories within the Adjustable Block Program: Small Distributed Generation, Large Distributed Generation, Traditional Community Solar, Community-Driven Community Solar, Public Schools, and Equity Eligible Contractors. The Final Block Sizes, for the 2022-2023 Program Year, including the Addition of Uncontracted Capacity Allocation from the 2021-22 Program Year, in MW, are:

Block Group	Small DG	Large DG	Traditional Community Solar	Community-Driven Community Solar	Equity Eligible Contractor Projects	Public Schools
Group A (Ameren Illinois, MidAmerican, Mt. Carmel, Rural Electric Cooperatives and Municipal Utilities located in MISO)	42.18	57.58	51.27	10.55	43.59	154.85
Group B (ComEd and Rural Electric Cooperatives and Municipal Utilities located in PJM)	99.09	99.09	119.63	24.27	101.04	154.85
Total	141.27	156.67	170.9	34.82	144.63	154.85
Please note that applications for Traditional Community Solar Category open November 1, 2022.

All projects are subject to compliance by Approved Vendors and their Designees to the Consumer Protection Handbook, and the 2022 Program Guidebook. In addition, under Section 1-75(c)(1)(M)(ii) of the Plan, the Agency is required “to establish program requirements and minimum contract terms ‘to ensure projects are properly installed and produce their expected amounts of energy.” Consistent with the 2022 Long-Term Plan, the IPA has updated the Contract Requirements, and AVs/Designees must be in full compliance with the new requirements in these documents by August 28, 2022.

Distributed Generation Contract Requirements

Community Solar Contract Requirements

Small Distributed Generation

The Small Distributed Generation category includes distributed generation projects up to and including 25 kW in size. The Small Distributed Generation category will comprise at least 20% of the ABP capacity generally.

Each project that is constructed in this category will be subject to prevailing wage requirements included in the Prevailing Wage Act309 except the following types of projects:

Projects that serve a single-family or multi-family residential building
Projects that serve a house of worship and are not greater than 100 kW AC (aggregated with any co-located projects)
Projects for which construction can be demonstrated to have been completed before September 15, 2021, the effective date of Public Act 102-0662

Approved Vendors for community solar projects are subject to additional responsibilities beyond those required for distributed generation projects in the Program. The responsibilities include detailed reporting on subscribers for the project and subscriber types. Information on responsibilities for community solar projects can be found in the 2022 Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan (Section 7.4.2), Program Guidebook, and the Consumer Protection Handbook.

Large Distributed Generation

The Large Distributed Generation category includes distributed generation projects greater than 25 kW in size up to and including 5 MW. The Large Distributed Generation category will comprise at least 20% of the ABP capacity generally.

Each project that is constructed in this category will be subject to the prevailing wage requirements included in the Prevailing Wage Act with the exception the following types of projects:

Projects (greater than 25 kW AC) that were on a waitlist as of the Program’s reopening on December 14, 2021
Projects that serve a single-family or multi-family residential building
Projects that serve a house of worship and are not greater than 100 kW AC (aggregated with any co-located projects)
Projects for which construction can be demonstrated to have been completed before September 15, 2021, the effective date of Public Act 102-0662

Traditional Community Solar

The Traditional Community Solar category now allows for community solar projects up to and including 5 MW in size (increased from 2 MW). Capacity for the Traditional Community Solar category for the first two years after the effective date of Public Act 102-0662 were allocated to projects already on ordinal waitlists as of Public Act 102-0662’s enactment, as outlined below. Traditional Community Solar projects must have subscriptions of 25 kW or less constitute at least 50% of the facility’s nameplate capacity. The Traditional Community Solar category will generally comprise at least 30% of the ABP capacity. Traditional Community Solar projects will now also feature 20-year REC delivery contracts that pay for RECs over time as they are delivered, rather than the front-loaded payment schedule previously used for community solar.

Find a Community Solar Project with this downloadable list.

Community-Driven Community Solar

The Community-Driven Community Solar (“CDCS”) category includes community solar projects up to 5 MW that meet the criteria to be classified as community-driven. The CDCS category will comprise at least 5% of the ABP generally and these projects are intended to provide a more direct and tangible connection and benefits to the communities in which they operate.

View primary selection criteria:

Section 1-75(c)(1)(K)(v) of the IPA Act, as amended by Public Act 102-0662, provides that the Agency shall develop selection criteria for projects participating in this category. Primary selection criteria include:

Community ownership or community wealth-building through having a minimum of 50% of the ownership of the project held by community residents or non-profit organizations which directly serve the community where the project is located. This would include having members of the community being able to participate in decisions regarding the governance, operation, maintenance, and upgrades of and to the project; and members of that community benefiting from the project through subscriptions to the project.
Additional direct and indirect community benefits, beyond project participation as a subscriber, including, but not limited to, economic, environmental, social, cultural, and physical benefits. The application must quantify the value of these benefits and they must represent at least 20% of the REC contract value.
- Direct benefits can include, but are not limited to, financial benefits for the owner(s) and subscribers, such as bill savings, revenues from project ownership, tax credits, and the financial value of the project, as well as job creation, direct income, and increased economic activity in the defined geographic community.
- Indirect benefits can include, but are not limited to, demonstration of environmental, educational, and cultural benefits.
Meaningful involvement in project organization and development by community members, nonprofit organizations, or public entities located in or serving the community.
- Meaningful involvement as used herein can mean, but is not limited to, a process that consists of public input, participation and engagement in the program design process, including workshops, webinars, and public comment periods all of which afford stakeholders (those that have an interest or stake in an issue, such as individuals, interest groups, and communities) the opportunity to influence decisions that impact their community.
Engagement in project operations and management by nonprofit organizations, public entities, or community members.
- Engagement as used herein can mean, but is not limited to, continuous community participation and consultation as projects are built, operated, and maintained in a way that affords opportunities for the community to weigh in on and make decisions regarding the project.
Whether a project is developed in response to a site-specific RFP developed by community members, or a nonprofit organization or public entity located in or serving the community.

Public Schools

The Public Schools category includes Small and Large Distributed Generation projects as well as community solar projects that serve a public school in Illinois. The Public Schools category will generally comprise at least 15% of the ABP capacity. Public Schools projects will also feature 20-year REC delivery contracts that pay for RECs over time as they are delivered, rather than the front-loaded payment schedule previously used under the ABP. Section 1-75(c)(1)(K)(iv) of the IPA Act restricts the eligibility of projects under the Public Schools category to those that are installed “at” a public school. In accordance with the Commission’s Final Order approving this Plan, community solar projects developed on land adjacent to a public school or on school district-owned land are eligible to participate in this category.

Equity Eligible Contractor (“EEC”)

The EEC category includes Distributed Generation projects as well as community solar projects that have been submitted to the Program by Equity Eligible Contractor Approved Vendors per the guidelines specified in Section 7.7.3. At least 10% of the capacity of the ABP shall come from projects submitted by applicants that are EEC certified. EEC certified Approved Vendors may also submit projects into other program categories and are not limited to the EEC category. To give the market for EEC projects time to develop, for the 2022-2023 and the 2023-2024 delivery years the Agency does not propose increasing the portion the Adjustable Block Program allocated to EEC projects above the 10% level, but expects that in the next Long-Term Plan which will cover the subsequent two delivery years, the Agency will begin to increase that percentage with the goal of reaching 40% by the 2030 delivery year.

At this time, the Agency is not proposing specific sub-categories within the EEC category for specific project types as it believes that it needs to give time for this sector to develop and does not want to prematurely limit project applications. Furthermore, for this 2022 Long-Term Plan the Agency is not proposing different REC prices for EEC projects than comparable DG or Community Solar projects (which would recognize variations in project size and geographic location), rather the Agency is proposing that the key value of participation in the EEC category is the opportunity for the advance of capital to overcome financing barriers.