You might have questions about how solar will add to your organization’s bottom line. Here we guide you through available incentives and financing options.
Government and nonprofit dollars are finite. Stretch them further by lowering one of the largest operating expenses: your monthly electric bill. For Illinois organizations, a solar power purchase agreement (PPA) allows you to do just that along with no need for a capital outlay.
Take advantage of federal and state incentives to reduce the total cost of your solar project. Solar financing for government and nonprofit organizations are making it affordable for tax-exempt entities.
Thanks to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, solar energy has become more affordable for government entities with the Direct Pay of the Federal Investment Tax Credit. This new feature of the tax credit allows non-tax paying entities to receive the full value of the tax credit by making the 30% tax credit refundable. Non-profit organizations and governments can use that direct payment amount to reduce the cost of their system.
A third-party investor can install and own a system on a tax exempt organization’s property and take full advantage of the federal tax incentives. The third party is then in a position to pass on some of the resulting monthly savings to their host.
Such a partnership could be structured in a number of different ways. See your State’s Financing options to learn more.
When a third party investor is involved (ex: PPA) they take these incentives along with the federal tax incentives, and pass some of the financial benefit to you by selling you the array’s electricity at a lower than standard grid rate.
Illinois Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs)
Recover a significant portion of the original system cost with cash payments upfront or over 5 years, depending on system size, from the Illinois Power Agency. (Not available with PPA). Solar Renewable Energy Credits are based on the production of your solar PV system.
Learn more about SRECs.
$250/kW Smart Inverter Rebate in Illinois
A new $250/kW (DC) smart inverter rebate will soon be available for large commercial, industrial, and non-profit systems in Illinois, which are generally those in Ameren Illinois territory having a peak demand of over 150kW (rate DS-3 and above), and for ComEd customers, a peak demand more than 100kW. These installations will be required to incorporate “smart” inverter technology, which will be accessible to the utility to facilitate grid reliability. Note that these customers are eligible only for a so-called dual metering arrangement with credits per kWh at the utility’s ‘avoided cost’ (wholesale rate), if they elect to be designated as a Qualifying Facility.
See Net Metering 101
A solar loan allows you to purchase a solar system and pay it off over time. The types of solar loans include:
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
Third party investors have a strong interest in solar. With the available federal tax incentives and SRECs, a third party investment partner will pay to install and own the solar system on your property. Through the PPA you buy only the kilowatt hours the system produces.
Solar Benevolent For-Profit LLC
Third party for-profit investors are often interested in arrangements other than a PPA, to take advantage of the federal tax incentives that tax-exempt entities can not. There are numerous legal and regulatory securities and utility tariff hurdles associated with this model. (As a result, power purchase agreements are not yet even available in Missouri.)
However, there is a unique rarely utilized arrangement which involves creation of a benevolent for-profit LLC partnership. This method, complex & time-consuming, is as-of-yet untested in Missouri or Illinois. But the possible benefits to the community and the benevolent process itself, make it worth further investigation.
North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light is an organization of faith-based congregations working on climate change. They have put together an excellent guide that describes 2 congregations that successfully used the benevolent LLC approach. Learn more here about the 2 NC case studies.
If you decide to dive into the really technical aspects of the benevolent LLC model, A Guide To Community Solar: Utility, Private, and Non-profit Development, was a seminal document sponsored by the National Renewable Energy Lab and originally published in 2011. While its focus is on Shared Arrays and for-profit investors, the discussion of Special Purpose Entities (starting on page 12) provides a bit more insight about how an LLC can work.
State Loans
Through this State Treasurer’s program, participating banks and credit unions offer 2-3% interest loans to both individuals and businesses. This program has been infrequently used for solar electric projects due to certain limitations. However, the program is well-funded and worth looking into.
https://youtu.be/wm-2wI33gcY Illinois solar net metering changes are coming in 2025 for homeowners and businesses. Additionally, a new Smart Inverter Rebate incentive will reduce the initial
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