2025 Illinois Solar Incentives, Tax Credits, Rebates, & Exemptions

Last updated: January2025

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.

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Overview of Illinois solar incentives and rebates

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

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Calculate how much you can save with Illinois incentives

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Federal solar tax credit

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.

 Illinois Shines Adjustable Block Program

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 $63.53 over 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.

Illinois Solar For All Program

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.”

Ameren and ComEd Distributed Generation rebates

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)

Special property tax assessment for solar energy systems

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.

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Illinois net metering and solar buyback plans

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).

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Illinois installation costs

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.

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Do incentives make solar worthwhile in Illinois?

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.

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Calculate how much you can save with solar incentives in Illinois

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Illinois solar incentives FAQs