Winnebago County · Illinois

Solar installation and repair in Rockford, Illinois

We install new systems, take panels off when your roof needs work, and fix systems other companies walked away from. Based in Rockford since 2021.

Local intro

The utility here, and the drive from Rockford.

This page covers Rockford, Loves Park, Machesney Park, Cherry Valley, Winnebago and New Milford in Winnebago County, Illinois. Our shop is at 319 Peoples Avenue in Rockford, so these are the streets we drive every day. If your address is on the edge of that, send it and we'll tell you straight whether we can serve you properly.

ComEd. ComEd serves Rockford, Loves Park, Machesney Park, Cherry Valley, Winnebago and New Milford. It has run the Rockford grid since it took over Central Illinois Electric and Gas in 1967, and it publishes a hosting-capacity map, updated monthly, that shows which circuits have room for more solar.

What we know about Rockford

More than 75% of Rockford's housing stock was built before 1980, which is why a structural letter on the roof framing is part of most permits here, and why we look at the deck before we quote. Source
On the night of 13 to 14 July 2024, four to six and a half inches of rain fell across most of Rockford, with water in homes in Loves Park and Cherry Valley and dozens of water rescues. Source
The 15 July 2024 derecho brought straight-line winds of 70 to 90 mph through the Rockford area and three tornadoes in southern Winnebago County. Wind at that speed tests every clamp on an array. Source
Hail of three-quarters of an inch fell at Rockford Airport on 15 May 2025, with three-quarter to one-inch hail in Loves Park and Caledonia the same day. Source
The Mark Raeder Community Solar Project off West State Street, about 20,000 panels serving around 690 subscriber homes and OSF Saint Anthony, was the first community solar project in Winnebago County and marked its first year on 16 September 2026. Source

Permitting

How a permit runs in Rockford.

We pull the permit and file the utility interconnection on every job. Here is who issues it and what they ask for.

City of Rockford

The City of Rockford issues two permits for a rooftop system, a building permit and an electrical permit, and notifies the Fire Department of every solar permit. The city says it processes residential rooftop solar permits in three business days or less once the application is complete, through its online permitting system.

Source

Winnebago County Building Division

Homes in unincorporated Winnebago County and in the villages of Cherry Valley and New Milford permit through the Winnebago County Building Division at 404 Elm Street, Rockford, (815) 319-4350. The county's solar checklist asks for a zoning clearance, an electrical one-line showing the interconnection, disconnect and grounding, a structural worksheet with wind, snow, dead and live loads prepared by an Illinois design professional, the manufacturer's anchorage data, and an installer certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission as a Distributed Generation Installer.

Source

Village of Winnebago

The Village of Winnebago issues its own building permits through the Building Inspector at 108 West Main Street, (815) 335-2020, with approval in 48 to 72 hours and fees payable online. The village adopted its current codes on 1 January 2025.

Source

Work we've done there

Real projects, with the numbers attached.

Residential · Winnebago County · 2026

21 kW on a rural ranch home, and what it cost the owner.

Two Fronius inverters, a split array across house and shed, and $40,609 returned through incentives.

Read the numbers

Services offered

What we do in Rockford.

Home solar

Find out whether your roof and your bill make it worth doing, before anyone designs you a system.

Check my fit

Service and repair

Offline, underproducing, or the company that installed it is gone. $400 covers the visit and the first two hours. On site within five business days.

Request service

Detach and reinstall

Panels have to come off before a roofer can touch the deck, and they have to go back on without voiding your warranty or your roof.

Start a roof review

Storm solar check

Get the solar side checked before the roofer starts. We document what happened to the array, coordinate the removal, and put it back properly.

Storm Solar Check

Commercial solar

The 30% credit is alive for business-owned systems, with depreciation on top, though the project has to be in service by 31 December 2027.

Commercial solar

Incentives

What Illinois Shines pays here.

ComEd serves this area, which puts a home here in Illinois Shines Group B. The program buys fifteen years of your system's renewable energy credits at a price the state fixes for each program year; since 1 June 2026 a home-scale system receives 50% at energization and the rest over six years. Illinois Shines figures are estimates until the program approves them, and Illinois Shines is not free solar.

ComEd also pays a distributed generation rebate of $300 per kW on a system interconnected with a smart inverter, and Illinois lets you file form PTAX-330 so the array should not raise your assessment once you file the claim form.

The federal residential credit ended for installations completed after 31 December 2025. Business-owned systems still qualify for the 30% Section 48E credit if the project is in service by 31 December 2027. See what changed in 2026 for the full picture.

See what's still available

Tell us what you need.

Whether that's a quote, a second opinion on someone else's quote, or a system that stopped working, you'll get a straight answer and a real next step.

Or call(815) 443-3155Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm

Tell us what you need

Tell us what's going on. If solar doesn't suit your roof we'll say so on the first call.