Beginning December 15, 2022, each project awarded a Renewable Energy Credit (“REC”) contract through the Illinois Power Agency’s (“IPA”) Indexed REC procurement must comply with the Minimum Equity Standard (“MES”).

For 2023-24 Delivery Year, the MES is 10%; that is, at least 10% of the project workforce must be composed of Equity Eligible Persons (“EEPs”).1 The MES applies to the project’s workforce2 and is based on number of workers or employees, not the work hours performed by those employees.

Each Seller must submit a Compliance Plan and a MES Year-End Report if the Date of First Operation of the project as recorded by PJM-EIS GATS or M-RETS occurred on or after December 15, 2022 (regardless of whether the project is located in Illinois or an adjacent state).

If construction activities for the project have not yet begun, Seller only needs to complete Questions 1 through 6 of the MES Year-End Report.

A separate MES Year-End Report must be filed for each project. The MES Year-End Report is intended to document the project’s compliance with the MES requirement. Required data and information include:

• Seller Information
• Project workforce total
• Project workforce demographic information
• Equity Eligible Person total, including proof of EEP eligibility and any supporting documentation (e.g., for individuals that qualify based on residency in an EIEC, proof of residency)
• Performance in meeting goals of the project’s submitted MES Compliance Plan and any major differences
• Description of outreach efforts to provide employment opportunities on the project to low-income participants and residents of environmental justice communities

Please complete and submit the online MES Year-End Report Form no later than July 15, 2024. Any supplemental documents to the MES Year-End Report should be submitted to IPA.EnergyEquity@illinois.gov. Please include "[entity name] MES Year-End Documentation" in the email subject line.

The IPA will evaluate each MES Year-End Report and confirm compliance with the MES requirements. As described in Section 6.4(d) of the Indexed REC Contract, the IPA shall have the right to request more information from Sellers related to the MES requirements and to grant waivers or impose remedies should Seller fail to comply with the MES or the reporting requirements.

Please note that the MES Year-End Reports, once submitted, will become public records that may be subject to disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140); as such, if any information within this MES Compliance Plan should be protected from disclosure, please indicate in response to Question 19 of this Report what information, if any, is proprietary, privileged, or confidential, and the disclosure of that information would cause competitive harm. Any personally identifiable or private information contained in EEP attestations and supporting documents will be held confidential and exempt from disclosure under Sections 7(b) and 7(c) of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

1. Equity Eligible Persons means persons who would most benefit from equitable investments by the State designed to combat discrimination, specifically: (a) persons who graduate from or are current or former participants in the Clean Jobs Workforce Network Program, the Clean Energy Contractor Incubator Program, the Illinois Climate Works Pre-apprenticeship Program, Returning Residents Clean Jobs Training Program, or the Clean Energy Primes Contractor Accelerator Program, and the solar training pipeline and multi-cultural jobs program created in paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(3) of Section 16-108.12 of the Public Utilities Act; (b) persons who are graduates of or currently enrolled in the foster care system; (c) persons who were formerly incarcerated; (d) persons whose primary residence is in an Equity Investment Eligible Community as defined in Section 1-10 of the IPA Act.

2. “Project workforce” means employees, contractors and their employees, and subcontractors and their employees whose job duties are directly required by or substantially related to the development, construction, and operation of the project that is participating in the IPA-administered programs and procurements under Section 1-75(c) of the IPA Act. This shall include both project installation workforce and workforce in administrative, sales, marketing, and technical roles where those workers’ duties are directly related to the project (regardless of the installation workers’ location). For workforce in administrative, sales, marketing, and technical roles, this shall apply only if those workers are located in Illinois.