Illinois solar incentives in 2026

• Utility solar rebate: ComEd and Ameren Illinois pay a one-time rebate of about $300 per kW of system size for qualifying systems with a smart inverter, roughly $2,100 on a typical 7 kW home system.
• Illinois Shines: the state buys the renewable energy credits (RECs) your panels produce. Installers usually pass that value to you as a lower price.
• Illinois Solar for All: income-eligible households can get solar with little or no upfront cost.
• Net metering: extra power you send to the grid still earns bill credits, though new systems are credited at the supply rate rather than the full retail rate.
• Federal credit: the 30% homeowner credit (Section 25D) ended for systems installed after 2025. Leases and PPAs can still benefit from the business credit the installer claims.

Under Illinois' Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, both ComEd and Ameren Illinois offer a distributed generation (DG) rebate to customers who install solar. For residential systems the rebate is about $300 per kilowatt of generating capacity, and the system needs a smart inverter. A 6 kW system works out to about $1,800 and a 10 kW system about $3,000.

There's also a battery storage rebate of about $300 per kWh of storage capacity. To get it you generally need to enroll in one of your utility's time-of-use, hourly pricing or peak-time rebate programs.

Your installer normally files the rebate paperwork when they apply to connect your system. If you installed before 2025 and still have full retail net metering, taking the rebate can mean giving that up, so ask before you sign anything.

Illinois Shines is the state program, run by the Illinois Power Agency (IPA), that buys the renewable energy credits (RECs) your system generates. One REC equals one megawatt-hour of solar production, and the program pays for many years of the system's expected RECs. Most of that money arrives in the early years.

In practice the REC payment goes to your installer (an IPA-approved vendor), who usually takes it off your price or passes it to you. That's why quotes from Illinois installers often come in well below national averages. The 2026–2027 program year opened in June 2026.

Read our full Illinois Shines guide for how payments work and what to ask your installer.

Illinois Solar for All is the income-qualified side of the program. Eligible households can get rooftop solar or a community solar subscription designed to save money from day one, often with no upfront cost. Eligibility depends on household income relative to area median income, and some locations qualify on their own.

If your system started operating before 2025, you likely kept full retail net metering. For systems connected since January 1, 2025, the credit you get for power you send to the grid covers the supply portion of your bill but not delivery charges. The utility rebate exists to soften that change.

This makes sizing more important than ever. A system that covers what you actually use during the day, possibly paired with a battery, tends to pencil out better than one that exports a lot. See how Illinois net metering works now.

Illinois has a special assessment rule for solar energy systems: a home with solar can be assessed as if it had a conventional energy system, so adding panels shouldn't raise your property tax bill. You may need to apply with your county assessor. Ask your installer or assessor's office how it works in your county.

The 30% Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D) was ended by the 2025 federal budget law for systems installed after December 31, 2025. If you buy your system outright or finance it with a loan today, there's no federal credit for you to claim.

Leases and power purchase agreements (PPAs) are different: the installer owns the system and may still claim a business tax credit, which can lower your monthly price. That window has its own deadlines, so it's worth asking about now. More in our 2026 federal tax credit guide.