Illinois Green Policy Update: March 2026

Earlier this year, Illinois Green kicked off our local outreach through the Illinois Clean Building Commitment with three all-electric retrofit tours in Champaign, Macomb, and Carbondale. 

These tours connected over 75 people including several local policymakers with building energy solutions and education on policy that supports clean communities. 

To get a sense of these tours, there’s a great video highlighting our recent tour in Champaign: 

We’re looking to reach even more communities and local leaders with tours of high-performance projects. Share ideas for tour projects with Ryan Wilmington. Thanks to our awesome partners at IL PIRG, Build Equinox, Faith in Place, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club Shawnee Chapter, and Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship for helping make these tours possible. 

The Illinois General Assembly is underway and considering several bills relevant to the state’s building industry. 

POWER (Protecting Our Water, Energy, and Ratepayers) Act (SB4016/HB5513) 

Illinois has been home to a data center boom with over 230 of these facilities already operating in the area and many more planned. This massive build-out has raised questions about the impact of data centers, from increasing grid strain to rising ratepayer costs, water use, and the impact to the state’s climate goals.

 
A proposal from the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition seeks to put guardrails on these facilities and ensure clean energy and energy efficiency investment. The POWER Act would require new data centers to develop “Bring Your Own New Clean Capacity and Energy” (BYONCCE) Supply Plans, and allow data centers that invest in clean energy to “jump the line” for faster grid connection, while requiring these facilities to pay into a public benefits and affordability fund. 

 
Read more here: 

Could a New Illinois Bill Be a Blueprint for Curbing Data Centers’ Climate Impacts? | Inside Climate News 

Plug-In Solar 

And here’s a fun one — a new bill could allow your balcony to turn into a mini clean energy plant. Plug-In solar systems, or balcony solar, are small-scale, behind-the-meter systems that are often installed on a balcony and plugged directly into a standard power outlet. Because plug-in solar systems are small, easy to install, and don’t have to wait on grid connection approval, they can make clean energy accessible to many more people, including renters and condo dwellers. Legislation filed recently in Springfield (SB3104/HB4524) would allow for the installation of these systems of up to 1200 Watts and also prevent utilities, municipalities, and landlords from requiring permits or placing restrictions on these systems. 

Learn more about plug-in solar here: 

Balcony solar is taking state legislatures by storm | Canary Media

Utility Data Access 

Energy benchmarking is often the step towards decarbonization because you can’t reduce what you don’t measure. Unfortunately, it is often challenging for owners or operators to access whole-building data. During the last legislative session, Illinois lawmakers passed a law requiring electric utilities to share this data and now a similar proposal is being put forward for gas utilities.  

Illinois Green will track these bills as the Spring session advances forward. Building professionals voices are important on policies like these. Consider lending your voice in support by contacting their legislators and sharing their opinion and expertise as a member of the industry. 

As energy demand grows and costs rise, a good question for building professionals to consider is: "What is the fastest and most affordable way to deal with this challenge?" 

Analysis from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) reflects the long-held belief of our members; that investing in energy efficiency could be the easiest, and most cost-effective pathway to do so. The research shows that these investments could reduce national electricity consumption by 8% equivalent to around 70 GW at peak demand. This reduction could be achieved at an estimated $21/MWh, radically lower than the $76.5/MWh cost associated with adding new gas plants. 

Read more here: 

Faster and Cheaper: Using Energy Efficiency and Demand Flexibility to Address Electric Load Growth | ACEEE

Driven by nation—leading clean energy policies like the Future Energy Jobs Act (2017) and the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (2021), Illinois is seeing a major boom in new clean energy. Before 2017, Illinois had only 80 MW of solar across the state. By the end of Q1 2025, we reached 6,187 MW across more than 121,000 projects! Another highlight – over 40,000 Illinois households are a part of the community solar program. 

Learn more at the Illinois Power Agency’s Clean Energy Dashboard: cleanenergy.illinois.gov 

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