This voluntary survey is intended to gather information from Illinois Shines and Illinois Solar for All Vendors and Designees on costs associated with their projects that have completed in 2024, and projects expected to be completed in 2025.

The information collected through this survey will be used along with national data on project costs by the Illinois Power Agency to update cost inputs to the model used to set REC prices for the 2025-2026 Program Year for both programs.

Responses are due January 24, 2025.

Questions about this survey may be submitted to IPA.Solar@illinois.gov.

Instructions

The Agency recognizes that not all respondents will have response to every question and the Agency encourages respondents to provide information that they have available.

For this survey, please consider the date a project receives permission to operate from the interconnecting utility as the date a project is considered is completed.

Please report cost information in dollars per Watt DC by:

• Type (Distributed Generation or Community Solar)

• Size Category in kW AC (≤10 kW, 10 - 25 kW, >25 - 100 kW, >100 - 200 kW, >200 - 500 kW, >500 - 2,000 kW, >2,000 - 5,000 kW)

• Group (Group A: projects located in the service territories of Ameren Illinois, MidAmerican, Mt. Carmel Public Utility, and rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities located in MISO. Group B: projects located in the service territories of ComEd, and rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities located in PJM.)

The following categories of costs are based on the input fields in the CREST model that is used as part of the Agency’s REC Pricing Model.*

• Generation Equipment should include all hardware, such as panels and inverters.

• Balance of Plant (also known as Balance of System) represents all infrastructure, site prep and labor supporting the installation of the generation equipment. BOP costs include foundations, mounting devices, other hardware, and labor not already accounted for in "Generation Equipment.”

• Interconnection should account for all project costs relating to connecting to the grid, such as the construction of transmission lines, permitting costs with the utility, and start-up costs. This category will also include the cost of a new substation, if necessary.

• Development and Fees should include all costs relating to project management, studies, engineering, permitting, contingencies, success fees, and other soft costs not accounted for elsewhere.

These categories are used to help breakdown cost factors for the CREST model, but the CREST model uses these four categories in aggregate for modeling the revenue requirement for a photovoltaic project. In other words, the key factor for a given project in the total cost per Watt DC, rather than the specific breakdown between the four categories. The Agency recognizes that respondents may track costs in different ways and may categorize costs differently, and the Agency encourages respondents to attempt to categorize their costs to the extent practicable.

* CREST is an economic cash flow model developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that estimates the cost of energy in terms of cents per kilowatt hour associated with specific input assumptions. The input assumptions used regarding include technology type, location, system capital and operating costs, expected production, project useful life, and various project financing variables. CREST was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/crest.html)

Confidential Treatment of Responses:

The Agency has an obligation under Section 1-120 of the IPA Act to provide adequate protection for confidential and proprietary information furnished, delivered, or filed by any person, corporation, or entity. (20 ILCS 3855/1-120). Additionally, the Illinois Freedom of Information Act exempts from disclosure trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person or business where the trade secrets or commercial or financial information are furnished under a claim that they are proprietary, privileged, or confidential, and that disclosure of the trade secrets or commercial or financial information would cause competitive harm to the person or business, and only insofar as the claim directly applies to the records requested. (5 ILCS 140/7(1)(g)). The Agency will maintain the confidentiality of specific responses to this survey, but may release information furnished in the aggregate, including but not limited to Freedom of Information Act requests and within the REC Pricing Model.

Click here for more information and background on the REC Pricing Model Cost Input process.

* = Required, otherwise field is optional