Solar pergolas and carports in Illinois

• Your roof is shaded by mature trees you want to keep. See solar on a shaded or wooded lot.
• Your roof is slate, tile or cedar, or the home is historic. See solar on slate, tile or cedar roofs and solar on historic homes.
• Your roof faces the wrong way or is too small for the system you need.
• You want shade anyway, over a patio, pool deck or driveway, and the panels can be the roof.

Some installers use frameless or glass-glass panels made for canopies, where the underside is visible. Ask for the panel's UL listing and the structure's engineering.

The average solar carport on EnergySage was 9.7 kW and cost about $34,998. The extra cost is the structure: rooftop solar is still the cheapest per watt because it doesn't need anything new built. We didn't find a reliable published price for solar pergolas; expect them to land above rooftop for the same reason, and compare at least two or three quotes.

Incentives bring the price down. On a 9.7 kW system, the ComEd or Ameren rebate of about $300 per kW comes to about $2,910, before Illinois Shines. The federal homeowner tax credit ended for expenses after December 31, 2025. Check a quote with our solar quote checker.

Usually, but confirm it for your project. Illinois Shines covers distributed generation that sits on-site, behind your meter, on a roof or mounted on the ground, and is used mainly to offset your own electricity use. A freestanding pergola or carport at your home generally fits that description, but the program doesn't name these structures, so ask your installer to confirm before you sign.

The ComEd and Ameren rebate pays about $300 per kW of nameplate DC capacity for a behind-the-meter system with a smart inverter, the same as for a roof. See Illinois solar incentives.

Somewhat. Bifacial panels collect light on both sides, and an open structure lets reflected light reach the back. NREL field tests measured about 6.5% more energy a year from bifacial PERC panels and about 9% from heterojunction panels. NREL's research notes the gain depends on how high the panels sit and how much light the ground underneath reflects, so a pergola over light concrete should do better than one over dark pavers.

Expect a building permit and zoning review, because the structure itself is new construction, not just an electrical project. Villages generally treat pergolas and carports as accessory structures, with their own setback, height and size limits, and Northern Illinois structures have to carry snow, so ask for stamped engineering.

Rules vary a lot by town. Mount Prospect, for example, allows residential solar only on rooftops. In Morton Grove, a homeowner needed a zoning waiver in 2025 for a side-yard carport that exceeded the allowed number of accessory structures. Check your town's page and our solar permits guide, and see ground mount vs. roof mount for how freestanding arrays compare.

Yes, and that's a common pairing. A carport is a natural spot for an EV charger, and a battery can be mounted on a garage or exterior wall nearby. ComEd and Ameren pay about $300 per kWh toward a home battery, now tied to their virtual power plant programs. See a home EV charger with solar and what a home battery costs.