On April 3, 2018, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC)
approved, with modifications recommended by solar advocates and
consumer groups, the Illinois Power Agency's (IPA) Long-Term
Renewable Resources Procurement Plan (Plan). The Plan was adopted
under the Future Energy Jobs Act, which requires the ICC to
establish a long-term plan for renewable resources procurement and
lays out a path for electric utilities to get 25% of their power
from renewable resources by 2025.
The Plan sets forth how the IPA, which procures energy for the
state's investor-owned utilities, will implement and oversee a
variety of programs and procurements to purchase renewable energy
credits (RECs). The utilities had argued that municipal utility and
cooperative customers should not be able to sell RECs from their
solar projects, since they do not pay into the state's
renewable energy fund that finances the RECs. An administrative law
judge previously proposed an order that banned municipal and
