Solar advocates cheered an order approved Tuesday by the
Illinois Commerce Commission that defines crucial aspects of how the state will
meet its ambitious goals for exponentially increasing solar capacity under
the Future
Energy Jobs Act.
On three different key points, the commission changed a
proposed order from an administrative law judge in ways that solar advocates
and consumer groups had recommended. If the proposed order had been implemented
unchanged, advocates had feared that many rural and lower-income residents
would have been excluded from solar incentives, and that the state might rely
too heavily on renewable energy credits from out-of-state and existing projects
as opposed to new in-state construction.
