April 14th, 2023: The Illinois Power Authority (IPA) announced new information related to the Adjustable Block Program (ABP) that will bring updates to operations in regard to application processing, the program’s portal, and existing and new requirements.
Most significantly, the refresh will launch the Minimum Equity Standard (MES) Compliance process.
(See the full announcement here.)
MES Compliance Update
The IPA launched the Minimum Equity Standard (MES) for Illinois Shines in April 2023 as part of the Equity Accountability System. Beginning in ABP Program Year 2023-24:
- Equity Eligible Persons: Each participating Approved Vendor and Designee must meet a required minimum percentage of their project workforce, which includes Equity Eligible Persons (increasing to 30% by 2030).
- MES Requirement 2023-2024: The MES requirement for the 2023-24 Program year is 10% EEPs for an entity’s workforce.
- MES Requirement 2024-2025: The MES requirement for the 2024-25 Program year is 12% EEPs for an entity’s workforce.
- Future Requirements: The IPA will determine future program years' percentages through the update to the Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan (LTRRPP).
Learning Support
Three Equity Accountability System webinars have been held recently. Webinars, slides, and Q&A documents to ensure comprehension and compliance with forthcoming Program requirements can be found here.
Further Reading:
ABP Minimum Equity Standards (MES) Launch and Overview
Combining Website Platforms
A centerpiece of the refresh effort includes combining the Program’s two current public-facing websites into a single, all-inclusive website to share Program information better. This new website release will only impact the external, public-facing portion of the Program website and will not impact the Program portal where applications are submitted.
- New Website: The new website will be hosted at Ilinois Shines and will be released in advance of the 2023-2024 Program year, which commences on June 1, 2023.
- Old Website: All currently available resources on the Illinois ABP website will be available on the new website, and links will be redirected.
- Improved User Experience: Consumers and Program participants can expect an improved user experience and provide better access to information related to each of the six Program categories with distinct Program category hubs for category-specific resources and news.
Traditional Community Solar Score Audit and Appeal Update
In accordance with the TCS scoring guidelines, the Program Administrator has scored all TCS projects submitted on November 1, 2022, that are Part I verified. The scores and a full announcement regarding the scoring process were posted on the Program website.
These scores will be used to determine which projects will be selected for a REC contract once random selection (if needed) takes place, and the 20% developer cap is applied.
- Appeal Deadline: A deadline of March 24, 2023, was provided for Approved Vendors to appeal decisions made by the Program Administrator on the scoring of their projects.
- Results Date: The Agency intends to have all submitted appeals determined by April 21, 2023, subject to the quantity and substance of appeals submitted.
- Post-Deadline Allowances: An allowance for additional appeals after that process concludes will be made for any impacted Approved Vendors if any additional errors are uncovered.
- Random Selection: As previously shared, the Agency will utilize a random selection process to break ties between projects that received the same scores and where those scores would impact project selection or waitlist placement. This process will occur after the appeal process is complete.
- Random Selection Date: The Agency intends to hold the random selection reordering event in early May 2023, with further details to come.
REC Pricing
The Agency announced that it is conducting two processes to update REC prices for the Illinois Shines Program and the Illinois Solar for All Program:
Proposed 2023-2024 REC Prices
The Agency released the updated REC prices on Monday, April 17, 2023, along with the updated Program Guidebook for the 2023-24 Program year.
Update to REC Pricing Model & REC Prices for Subsequent Years
This second process is a review of the REC pricing approaches for consideration of changes in methodology to be included in the next Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan (“LTRRPP”).
This process is awaiting review of comments for inclusion in the next update of the Comments on this process have been received by the Agency and are currently under review for inclusion in the next update of the LTRRPP.
Resources and Forms for MES:
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