Illinois Solar for All – Program Budget Memo

The Agency recognizes that the ILSFA Dashboard reflected an incentive budget that contained errors and inaccuracies. Upon review, the Agency found that program administration expenses had not been correctly removed from the Dashboard budget, and that project data (including deobligations) had not been properly reflected. These issues resulted in the discrepancies; the ILSFA Dashboard should have reflected a RERF balance of $8.9 million.

The $8.9 million RERF balance that was not utilized for project incentives in PY26 has been rolled over to PY27, as discussed further in the "Going Forward - Program Year 2027" section below. The RERF balance will first be used to support program administration expenses. In the event RERF balance remains after the application of program administration expenses, the Agency will evaluate the best use of this funding, which may include utilization to support additional ILSFA projects in PY27 or PY28, or utilization in PY28 for program administration expenses.

Utility Collections-Funded Budget

Following the Agency's comprehensive review of the RERF budget, a similarly comprehensive review was completed of the utility-funded budget. At the commencement of PY26 the Agency announced $68.6 million in available incentives. During its review the Agency identified $8.3 million of additional project funding - increasing the utility-funded budget balance to $76.896 million. The additional funds were identified as a result of project data corrections inclusive of project deobligations. With the project data corrections completed, the Agency processed additional project applications through the utility-funded budget during PY26 - a total of $76.1 million of projects were Part I approved, leaving $795,045 in utility-funded budget which was rolled forward into PY27 to support new projects in the next program year.

Going Forward - Program Year 2027

On June 24, 2026 the IPA announced the PY27 ILSFA incentive budgets, with a total ILSFA Incentive budget of $50,795,045. The ILSFA Incentive budget is inclusive of three sub-programs: $17,778,226 available for Distributed Generation projects (divided evenly between Small and Large Residential Solar), $20,318,018 for Community Solar Projects, and $12,698,761 for Non-Profit & Public Facility Projects. The ILSFA Incentive budget consists of $50 million in utility-funding for PY27 and $795,045 in Utility-funded budget roll-over from PY26. The utility-funded incentive value does not include ILSFA program administration expenses, which will be paid through the $10 million in general RPS collections (as explained in the following paragraph) for PY27 and the RERF balance roll-over from PY26.

On June 24, 2026 Governor Pritzker signed the Clean and Reliable Grid and Affordability Act (CRGA) Trailer Bill into law, which includes a provision allocating up to $10 million in PY26 (and $5 million in PY27) from general RPS collections to be used for ILSFA program administration expenses. Further, as described above, the Agency rolled-over the $8.9 million in RERF balance to PY27 which will also initially be used to support ILSFA program administration expenses should the $10 million in general RPS Budget funding be exhausted. Throughout the program year the Agency will continue to actively track program administration expenses - in the event that the remaining balance of the RERF is not fully utilized for program administration expenses during PY27 the Agency will explore utilizing any remaining RERF balance for PY27 project incentives, PY28 project incentives and/or PY28 program administrator expenses.

Finally, on July 2, 2026, the Agency announced the selection of a new Joint Program Administrator, Energy Solutions. The Joint Program Administrator RFP was issued to drive cost efficiencies and service improvements, including enhanced customer service and strengthened program delivery. Energy Solutions, which currently administers Illinois Shines, will be transitioning into the Program Administrator for ILSFA by the end of PY27. Approved Vendors, customers and other stakeholders should continue to receive consistent service and support during the transition process. The Agency and its Program Administrators remain committed to providing the highest quality service and support to ILSFA Approved Vendors, communities and customers. If transition activities are expected to impact Program operations (e.g. processes, systems, etc.), the Agency and its Program Administrators will promptly communicate relevant explanations, timelines, and details to stakeholders.

In the event stakeholders have any additional questions, inquiries should be sent to [email protected].