Program Documents

Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan

More information on Illinois Shines can be found in Chapters 6 and 7 of the Illinois Power Agency’s Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan. Past versions of the Plan can be found below. The Plan was reopened in December 2022, and the Modified Plan upon Reopening, as filed and published on May 9, 2023, is the operating version of the Plan.

The redline below shows the changes from the initial to the revised Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan:

Comparison of Initial Plan and Revised Plan

*The chapters of the plan outlining the Adjustable Block Program are Chapter 6 and 7.

2021 Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan Workshops

Workshop #1 Documents (June 25, 2021)

Workshop #1 Webinar

Workshop #1 Slide Deck

Workshop #1 Request for Comments

 

Workshop #2 Documents (July 7, 2021)

Workshop #2 Webinar

Workshop #2 Slide Deck

Workshop #2 Request for Comments

 

Workshop #3 Documents (July 13, 2021)

Workshop #3 Webinar

Workshop #3 Slide Deck

Workshop #3 Request for Comments

Program Guidebook

Consumer Protection Handbook

REC Contracts

Disclosure Forms

This document provides input rates that are utilized within the Program portal for calculations. For Distributed Generation, these include the Current Average Retail Rate (for ComEd/Ameren/MidAmerican) used to calculate the Savings Estimates for DG Disclosure Forms, and for rural electric co-ops or municipal utilities, an average statewide retail rate is used and updated annually. For Community Solar, a Price to Compare is provided for the utilities. Click here to access the current Portal Input Rates document.

Informational Brochures

Approved Vendors and their Designees are required to present the relevant brochure to program participants prior to the execution of an installation contract or agreement with the program participant. The brochure informs consumers of their rights, procedures for filing complaints, and points to more information that can be found on the Program website. Illinois Shines brochures are available below in both English and Spanish.

Contract Requirements

Section 9.4 of the Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan (“the Plan”) states that the IPA and its Program Administrators developed “program requirements, including marketing requirements, standard disclosure forms, contract requirements, and program brochures.” Under Section 1-75(c)(1)(M)(ii), 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 2024 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 June 3, 2024:

Prevailing Wage Hub

Prevailing wage is a minimum compensation level set by the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) by county for construction activities related to public works. Section 1-75(c)(1)(Q) of the IPA Act (20 ILCS 3855) as modified by Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (Public Act 102-0662) now requires that individuals engaged in the construction of applicable projects submitted to Illinois Shines are paid the relevant prevailing wage. Additionally, Illinois Public Act 102-0673 (effective as of November 30, 2021) clarifies that such projects are “public works” subject to the Prevailing Wage Act—which includes notice requirements and related provisions as well. The Prevailing Wage Act defines ‘construction’ to include maintenance, repair, assembly, or disassembly work performed on equipment.

View the Prevailing Wage Hub page here.

Other Resources

Assignments are governed by Section 9.2 of the 2019 REC Delivery Contract and Section 13.1 of the 2021, 2022 and 2024 REC Delivery Contracts. Download one of the two versions of the Acknowledgement of Assignment form corresponding to the REC Delivery Contract to assign.

Acknowledgement of Assignment Form
The Acknowledgement without consent form is used if the Assignee already is a valid Approved Vendor with an existing fully executed REC Contract.

Acknowledgement of Assignment and Consent Form
The Acknowledgement of Assignment and Consent Form is used if the Assignee is not currently a counterparty to a REC contract with the Buyer under the Illinois Shines program.

Acknowledgement of Assignment Form
The Acknowledgement without consent form is used if the Assignee already is a valid Approved Vendor with an existing fully executed REC Contract.

Acknowledgement of Assignment and Consent Form
The Acknowledgement of Assignment and Consent Form is used if the Assignee is not currently a counterparty to a REC contract with the Buyer under the Illinois Shines program.

Acknowledgement of Assignment Form
The Acknowledgement without consent form is used if the Assignee already is a valid Approved Vendor with an existing fully executed REC Contract.

Acknowledgement of Assignment and Consent Form
The Acknowledgement of Assignment and Consent Form is used if the Assignee is not currently a counterparty to a REC contract with the Buyer under the Illinois Shines program.

This table contains information to help Approved Vendors determine when net metering documentation such as a Net Meter Approval Letter or an Unavailability of Net Metering Customer Acknowledgement Form. This is the same table application processors consult during application review. Consulting this table and checking to ensure the appropriate documentation is uploaded with each project application will help avoid a Need Info delay.

Utility Net Metering Reference Table – Updated March 8, 2024

The Illinois Power Agency and the Program Administrator announce details for the Adjustable Block Program lottery held on April 10, 2019. (2024 notation: See the below section, “Lottery Results, Final Opening Lottery Procedure, Draft Lottery Procedure, and Archived Lottery Timelines” for associated details, documents, and results).

As previously announced, lotteries will be held for the following Groups/categories: Group A – Large Distributed Generation (“DG”), Group A – Community Solar, and Group B – Community Solar.

Event Details

Location Date and Time
James R. Thompson Center Auditorium
100 W Randolph St, Lower Level
Chicago, IL 60601
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
1:00 PM CDT – 2:00 PM CDT

If you cannot attend in person, a toll-free call-in number is available to listen to the proceedings:

888-494-4032; Access Code: 9897235124

Order/Explanation of the Lottery Event

The Lottery Event will start with a brief overview of the lottery process and then lotteries will be conducted in the following order:

  1. Group A – Large DG
  2. Group A – Community Solar
    1. Projects that have committed to at least 50% small subscribers (50% of the combined capacity of Blocks 1 and 2)
    2. All remaining unselected projects (50% of the combined capacity of Blocks 1 and 2
  3. Group B – Community Solar
    1. Projects that have committed to at least 50% small subscribers (50% of the combined capacity of Blocks 1 and 2)
    2. All remaining unselected projects (50% of the combined capacity of Blocks 1 and 2)

The selection of projects for the lottery will be conducted using the algorithm explained in further detail below. For each lottery, once the algorithm has been run, the results will be displayed with all projects listed by ordinal rank, including indications of projects selected (including specific pricing) and projects placed on the waitlist. A hard copy of the results will be printed, signed, and retained by the IPA (to back up the electronic records).

All Approved Vendors with projects in the lottery will be informed immediately after the lottery event by e-mail of the ordinal rank and selected, or not-selected, status of their project(s). This information will also be displayed on their online dashboard. A public copy of the results will also be posted on the illinoisshines.com website immediately after the lottery event.

For the results of the lottery that will be posted to the program website, each project participating in the lottery will be listed by the project name provided by the Approved Vendor, selection status, the project size, the physical address, the name of the Approved Vendor, any small subscriber commitment status (community solar only), any voluntarily provided utility interconnection queue number, and the random ordinal number assigned to the project.

Algorithm/Project Selection

The algorithm used for the selection of projects is written the programming language PHP and the database language MySQL. The algorithm uses the SQL rand() function seeded by the microsecond time the lottery button was pushed to order the results.

Projects will be selected based upon their ordinal rank. Projects selected up to the combined capacity of Blocks 1 and 2 for the Group/category will receive Block 1 pricing. Projects selected up to the capacity of Block 3 will receive Block 3 pricing. Any projects selected through the allocation of discretionary capacity will receive Block 4 pricing. Additional information on the allocation of discretionary capacity will be announced shortly.

As noted above, for community solar, the lottery is run in two phases, once for projects that have committed to 50% small subscribers for half the capacity available for that Group, and then again for all non-selected projects from the first phase and the remaining projects that did not make a small subscriber commitment.

Contracts for selected projects are subject to approval by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Applications received after February 13

The project application portal will remain open for application submittals. However, for the Group/category combinations for which a lottery is being held, any applications submitted after the 12:00 noon, February 13, 2019 deadline for the lottery will be chronologically placed on the waiting list behind projects submitted to, but not selected in, the lottery. Due to the large number of projects submitted to those Group/category combinations, the waitlist in these Group/category combinations may be significantly long. Please keep this in mind in submitting future applications to these Group/category combinations. Group A and Group B – Small DG both remain open in Block 1, and Group B – Large DG remains open in Block 2 through April 5, 2019 (subject to available capacity).

LOTTERY RESULTS

  • See linked documents below in April 10, 2019 Lottery Results Posted section


FINAL OPENING LOTTERY PROCEDURE

*The procedures described in the November 28, 2018 Lottery Procedure document have been updated with some minor clerical corrections and a clarification of the application of the developer cap, as well as an option for projects that receive a Block 3 REC contract as a result of a Block 1 lottery to decline the contract.  The revised language is in the Program Guidebook.


DRAFT LOTTERY PROCEDURE


Archived Lottery Timelines
 (Updated Timeline)

The lottery for Group A – Large Distributed Generation (“DG”), Group A – Community Solar, and Group B – Community Solar projects was held on April 10, 2019.

The lottery for Group A – Large Distributed Generation (“DG”), Group A – Community Solar, and Group B – Community Solar projects was held on April 10, 2019. The results of the lottery can viewed by clicking the links below:

Group A – Large Distributed Generation (“DG”) Results PDF

Group A – Large Distributed Generation (“DG”) Results Excel Download

Group A – Corrected Community Solar Results PDF

Group A – Corrected Community Solar Results Excel Download

Group A – Original Community Solar Results PDF

Group A – Original Community Solar Results Excel Download

Group B – Community Solar Results PDF

Group B – Community Solar Results Excel Download

The lottery was conducted using an algorithm that is explained in detail in the “Adjustable Block Program Lottery Event Details” section above. The reports above list all projects submitted to the lottery by ordinal rank with an indication of whether or not the project was selected or placed on the waitlist. If a project was selected the report will indicate which Block the project was accepted into. Each project is listed by the project name provided by the Approved Vendor, the project size, the physical address, the name of the Approved Vendor, any small subscriber commitment status (community solar only), and any voluntarily provided utility interconnection queue number.  A copy of the presentation given at the lottery can be found here.

On April 12, 2019,  the IPA issued Clarification Regarding Application of the Developer Cap in the lottery.