Solar incentives in Illinois, as of September 2026.

The federal residential credit is gone.

Section 25D, the 30% residential clean energy credit, was terminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on 4 July 2025. It applies only to systems installed and finished by 31 December 2025.

The IRS counts the money as spent when the installation is completed, so a finished system means finished, inspected and switched on. A signed contract does not count, and neither do panels sitting in your driveway. A system finished in January 2026 gets nothing, whatever date is on the paperwork.

If you bought in 2025: unused credit can generally be carried forward to later tax years. If you had more credit than liability, it may not be lost. Worth raising with whoever does your return.

If a company is still advertising 30% off for a home system in 2026, ask them which section of the code they mean. Do that before you hand anyone a deposit.

Illinois did not follow the federal government.

Illinois Shines is the state REC programme and it is now the largest single incentive available to an Illinois homeowner. The state buys the renewable energy credits your system generates. Program year 2026–27 opened on 1 June 2026 with 236.71 MW available for residential-scale systems and no waitlist carried over.

What it is worth depends on your system's estimated production, the block your project lands in, and the contract you sign. On recent Braven projects it has run to roughly $1,600 per kW of installed capacity, net of fees.

It does not arrive as a cheque at signing. A large payment lands within months of energisation, then quarterly payments run for about six years. If a salesperson calls it a discount off the purchase price, they have the mechanics wrong.

Since 1 June 2026 the program pays the Approved Vendor, for a Small DG system of 25 kW AC or under, 50% of its REC value at energization and the rest in equal payments over the following six years. On a Braven project the Approved Vendor is Carbon Solutions SREC LLC (CSG), and CSG pays you, less the program fee shown on your Disclosure Form; the money does not run through the installer. In ComEd territory, which the program calls Group B, the 2026-27 price for a system of 10 kW or under is $80.77 per REC. That price is fixed for the program year and applies only to a project the program approves within it.

The ComEd distributed generation rebate pays $300 per kW of installed capacity on a system interconnected with a smart inverter. It is the utility's rebate, not the state's: you apply after ComEd grants Permission to Operate, and ComEd pays you by cheque.

Illinois property tax treatment should not raise your assessment once you file the claim form, PTAX-330, with your county assessor. The array is assessed at the lesser of its value with solar or with a conventional system, even though solar usually raises what the house is worth.

Net metering credits what you export to the grid against what you import.

If a business owns the system, the federal credit is still there.

Section 48E gives business-owned systems a 30% federal credit, and first-year depreciation stacks on top of it. Between them they can exceed the residential credit that just disappeared.

The deadline is 31 December 2027, placed in service. There is no partial credit for a late project. Projects that began construction after 4 July 2026 lost the extended completion window, and 2026-or-later starts must meet a Material Assistance Cost Ratio on equipment sourcing.

The benefit depends on the business having tax liability to absorb it. Commercial solar

Solar in Illinois still pays. The money just arrives on a different schedule.

Before 2026 the federal credit did roughly a third of the work on a home system and the pitch was simple. Now the state programme does most of it, and the money arrives over time rather than at tax filing.

You buy the system outright, and the incentives come back to you on a schedule. On current Braven pricing the incentives return roughly 75 to 78% of what a homeowner paid, before counting a lower electricity bill.

Any company still selling this the way they sold it in 2024 has not read the current rules.

Panel prices are rising.

A Section 232 tariff proclamation signed on 6 August sets a minimum import price on solar modules from December 2026, and wholesale prices started moving as soon as it was signed. Every system priced after that carries some of the increase, ours included.

If you are comparing quotes, check when each was priced. A published range from last year was built on a cost that no longer exists.

Braven Solar LLC is a registered Illinois Shines Designee (ID D5008) and markets and installs Illinois Shines projects on behalf of Approved Vendor Carbon Solutions SREC LLC. Illinois Shines is a state program that provides an incentive for solar projects. Braven Solar is not affiliated with ComEd or any utility, and nothing on this site is part of a utility program. You remain a utility customer and continue to receive a utility bill. Incentive figures are estimates until the program approves your application, and the Disclosure Form you sign before any contract shows how the REC payment is treated.

Last reviewed September 2026. General guidance only. Eligibility and value vary by project. Verify tax and incentive details with a qualified professional before relying on them.