The Illinois Solar for All (ILSFA) Program Administrator is requesting stakeholder comments on the proposed Project Selection Protocol for Program Year 2022-2023 (Program Year 5). The Project Selection Protocol triggers when applications in the initial project submission window exceed the annual funding for a given ILSFA sub-program.
Throughout the Project Selection Protocol, the IPA and the ILSFA Program Administrator have updated the ILSFA sub-program names. We will be using the participant-friendly names in all Approved Vendor documents and participant-facing materials for Program Year 5.
- Low-Income Single-Family and Small Multifamily Solar (formerly Low-Income Distributed Generation, 1-4 units) is now called Illinois Solar for All: Residential Solar (Small).
- Low-Income Large Multifamily Solar (formerly Low-Income Distributed Generation, 5+ units) is now called Illinois Solar for All: Residential Solar (Large).
- Low-Income Community Solar is now called Illinois Solar for All: Community Solar.
- Non-Profit and Public Facilities is now called Illinois Solar for All: Non-Profit and Public Facilities.
Terminology has also been updated from “low-income communities,” as defined by the 2022 Long-Term Plan (a census tract where at least half of households are not exceeding 80% AMI) to “Income-Eligible Communities.” The Income-Eligible Communities map and address look-up tool are available on the ILSFA Website.
Project submission will begin on October 31, 2022, for the Residential Solar (Small and Large) and the Non-Profit and Public Facilities sub-programs, and on January 30, 2023, for the Community Solar sub-program. Exact timelines for the project submission windows are available on ILSFA’s website.
The changes made to this document reflect new program requirements in Public Act 102-0662 (commonly known as the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act) and the 2022 Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan. They mainly focus on 1) addressing the requirement for 25% of sub-program budgets to be allocated to energy sovereignty projects and 2) the transition from one Residential Solar sub-program to two (one for 1–4 unit buildings and one for 5+ unit buildings).
We welcome comments from both ILSFA stakeholders and other interested parties. We will publish responses on the ILSFA website. However, should a commenter seek to designate any portion of its response as confidential, that commenter should provide both public and redacted versions. Independent of that designation, if the Program Administrator determines that a response contains confidential information that should not be disclosed, it reserves the right to provide its own redactions.
The 2022 Plan states, “[the] Project Selection Protocol developed for the 2022-2023 program year will be maintained without changes for the 2023-2024 program year to promote stability and certainty for Illinois Solar for All Approved Vendors, with the exception of adding in the new criterion related to Energy Sovereignty.” The methodology and protocol detailed in this ILSFA Project Selection Protocol Guidance Document for Program Year 5 will also be used for Program Year 6.
The draft Project Selection Protocol is posted at IllinoisSFA.com/Announcements. The draft is presented as redline of changes from the Program Year 4 protocol.
Responses are due by Friday, September 23, 2022, and should be sent to comments@IllinoisSFA.com.