Illinois DCEO Goes Big on Solar Grant, Kind Of…

Kinda, sorta, maybe. That’s about the best we can hope for in the solar industry right now in terms of state grant funding. The news broke last week that the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) will offer a hefty grant to solar PV, solar thermal and wind projects in the form of 25% of out-of-pocket project expenses for businesses and 40% for non-profits, municipalities and universities. The minimum project is $100,000 and the max award is $250,000, making this the largest Illinois grant for renewables to date. This isn’t a grant for residential projects, which haven’t been announced for 2013 and will remain separate from this program

Does this mean Illinois will shine in the community solar expansion? Maybe. Probably not. Right now there is no overall budget attached to the program, and recent programs for solar have been less than a couple million dollars, which is nowhere close to what is needed for a statewide expansion of renewable projects. To be fair, the state hasn’t announced its budget yet, so it is possible they will do something significant here, but I wouldn’t bet on it. What is more likely is that the program will be underfunded, meaning that only a few-dozen projects will actually receive grants. The total grand fund for 2011 and 2012 was $1.5 million per year, which is a pittance of what is needed to actively fund solar across the state. The program is not accessible to the people that it is intended to serve; $1.5 million is a handout at best. “Here ya go, solar, good luck to you!” It allows state politicians to claim they support the development of renewables without providing the necessary funding for the industry’s expansion.

There is also the issue of the DCEO’s expectations for the program - they are giving potential applicants, engineers, designers and installers less than one month to get their act together and submit an in-depth proposal. Create a program in March with a deadline in April for a construction project, ridiculous! What this means is the projects that are most likely to receive funding are the ones that are already in development. These projects most likely have financing from the bank and involve motivated customers, but don’t bring anyone new to the table. How does this program foster renewable development in Illinois? It certainly doesn’t allow for any new projects to get funded, which is what the state needs to focus on. I’m not trying to put down the good people at the DCEO, at least they are trying to do something positive. Unfortunately, the policy and funding behind them do not allow renewable programs to have any teeth, and development of solar in Illinois continues at a snail’s pace.

I live in Illinois, so I expect the state to botch this and create a weak program with very little impact. Look what happened to solar incentives last year; grants were almost non- existent in 2012. The state originally diverted those funds to an individual community college training program for PV installers. Why would the state want to fund training for PV installers when there aren’t an excess of projects currently happening in Illinois? As it turns out, one of the community college board members had political ties. Go figure.

Once someone in the Illinois legislature figured this out (or had it pointed out to them, we’ll never know), the state decided to go ahead with a similar program as the 2011 grant. The award amount, however, was cut in half and the application period was open and closed within about a week. Just like 2011, the program remained underfunded and did not register a significant economic impact. It could be said that Illinois took a step back with renewable development in 2012, can we expect them to take two-steps forward in 2013?

Hey state of Illinois, add some zeros to the overall budget for renewable incentives and make the program accessible to the communities you hope to serve. Until then, kinda- sorta-maybe is the best you can do for us.