ILSFA funding selections and sub-program updates

Grassroots Education Selections Announced

Congratulations to the ten organizations who were selected to conduct grassroots education campaigns for Illinois Solar for All (ILSFA). These grassroots education organizations will begin their campaigns in the coming weeks as ILSFA’s third program year gets underway. Thank you again to all those who submitted applications.

We are excited to be working with the following organizations to help educate Illinois residents on ILSFA and its benefits:

• Blacks In Green
• Bond Clinton Marion Washington Community Services Inc.
• Community Organizing and Family Issues
• Ecology Action Center
• Faith in Place
• Garfield Park Community Council
• North River Commission
• People for Community Recovery
• Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization
• Prairie Rivers Network

These organizations will be conducting outreach campaigns across Illinois, focusing their work in Environmental Justice Communities and low-income communities in Chicago, East Aurora, Danville, Bloomington-Normal, East St. Louis, and other cities, towns, and rural counties across the state.

These grassroots education organizations are trusted members of their communities who will educate income-eligible Illinois residents on the basics of solar and the ILSFA program’s benefits and eligibility requirements.

Contact information for the grassroots education organizations, along with a map of the communities they serve, is available here.

Learn About Our Programs’ Progress

Each of ILSFA’s three sub-programs have projects under development to provide clean energy and savings to Environmental Justice Communities and low-income communities around the state. We kicked off the project application process for ILSFA’s third program year at the beginning of July and will regularly post updates about each sub-program’s progress. A program year timeline is available here.

Low-Income Distributed Generation
We are now accepting income-eligible residential solar project applications for single-family and multi-family homes throughout Illinois on a rolling basis. Interested homeowners, property owners, and vendors can learn more about the eligibility and savings requirements here and can read about the sub-program’s first installed single-family projects here.

Non-Profit/Public Facilities
We recently closed our project application window, and the project applications we received exceeded the amount of funding available. We are reviewing the applications and will announce the selected projects on September 9, 2020.

Low-Income Community Solar
We will begin accepting project applications for community solar projects on August 24, 2020.

More Program Updates

COVID-19 Guidelines
As confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, our ban on door to-door sales and solicitation remains in place. Our most recent COVID-19-Related Marketing Guidelines update was posted August 6, 2020. We will continue to assess this prohibition based on consideration of numerous factors including Governor JB Pritzker’s Restore Illinois Reopening Plan, Illinois Commerce Commission orders for Alternative Retail Electric Suppliers, and an assessment of the public health risk to Illinois residents.

Future updates to our guidelines will be posted as website announcements.

Phase II Second Interim Evaluation Report
As mandated by the Future Energy Jobs Act, the Illinois Power Agency engaged an independent third-party evaluator to conduct an ongoing evaluation of ILSFA. The report presents results covering the period January 2020 through May 2020.