Illinois’s solar power scene is headed for brighter times after Governor Pat Quinn passed two laws on Tuesday that strengthen homeowners’ solar installation rights and direct utilities to meet existing solar purchasing deadlines.
House Bill 6202 amends rules established under the Illinois Power Agency Act and the Public Utilities Act that obliged the power industry to begin acquiring solar energy as part of their renewable energy portfolio in 2015.
The bill authored by Representative William Burns of Chicago and Oak Park Senator Don Harmon pulled the date ahead to 2012.
The new law further requires the power industry to purchase at least 0.5 percent of its total power production from solar by June of that year, 1.5 percent by 2013, 3 percent by 2014 and 6 percent by 2015.
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On the residential front, the Homeowner’s Solar Energy Act assures the right of individual homeowners to install solar energy panels on their homes as long as they follow specific guidelines.
Previously, homeowners’ associations could prevent their members from mounting solar panels in their property. The bill was sponsored by Representative Sara Feigenholtz of Chicago and Senator Michael Noland of Elgin.
“Solar energy is the wave of the future, and it is important that our public utilities and homeowners are able to more easily increase their use of solar energy,” said Mr. Quinn, who signed the bills into law during a ceremony held at the University of Illinois.
A $4 million Recovery Act grant was recently rewarded to Illinois to fund the first phase of the 62-megawatt Rockford solar project.
The solar power plant will initially produce 28 megawatts of electricity upon completion and offset an average of 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
