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Illinois Shines Promised to Fix Its Solar Backlog by Mid-August. It Just Moved That to October.

Ryan Cook•August 17, 2026•Updated Sep 13, 2026

Mid-August was when Illinois Shines said its solar application backlog would be fixed. It wasn't, and the state moved the goalposts on August 6 in an update written for solar companies.

Here's the short version. In its weekly program announcement dated July 24, 2026, the Illinois Power Agency said it expected Part I application reviews to return to the two-week target by mid-August 2026, and Part II by the end of September. A program update posted August 6 replaced those dates with new ones: Part I by mid-October, Part II by the end of November. Every weekly announcement since, through August 28, repeats them word for word.

Meanwhile the actual numbers got worse before they got better. Part I review hit 14 weeks in August, with Part II at 10 weeks. On July 24 those figures were 11 and eight. The August 28 announcement trims Part I to 10 weeks — real progress — but that's still five times the target, and Part II hasn't budged.

I read these announcements every week because I file in this program as a registered Designee. Homeowners don't read them. They're posted as PDFs aimed at Approved Vendors, and none of this reaches the consumer-facing side of the program's website.

What the two checkpoints actually are

Illinois Shines pays you for the renewable energy credits your panels produce, under a 15-year production contract. Getting paid means clearing two separate applications, and almost nobody explains them before you sign.

Part I comes first and gets your project accepted into the program at a locked-in credit price. For a home system in the 0–10 kW range, the 2026-27 prices are $70.37 per credit in Ameren Illinois territory and $80.77 in ComEd territory. A customer-owned system that doesn't claim the federal credit can add $20 per credit on top of that.

Part II comes after the system is built and running, using the as-built documentation. Part II verification is the step that makes your project eligible to actually be paid.

What the delay holds up, and what it doesn't

A 10-week Part I review does not stop panels from going on your roof. Permits, interconnection, and your installer's calendar are on tracks this queue doesn't touch.

What it delays is program approval and, downstream of Part II, the arrival of your credit money. For a purchase that's a genuine cash-flow problem, because the payment structure is already slow by design: 50% arrives as a lump sum and the other 50% comes quarterly across six years, with the customer receiving roughly 85% of the gross after vendor fees and a holdback for underproduction. Stack another few months of queue on the front end and you're waiting a while.

One detail from the August 28 announcement is worth circling if you're close to the finish line. Applications Part II verified on or before September 24, 2026 go into the October invoicing period. Anything reviewed between September 26 and September 30 slides to November. A few days can cost a month.

Why it jammed, and my honest read

The program names its own cause: a simultaneous spike in Small DG Part I applications and Part II submissions, with battery schematics called out specifically. Small DG means 25 kW and under — which is nearly every house in Illinois.

My read is that two waves hit the same door at once. Electric rates have climbed hard enough to move a lot of people off the fence, and batteries are showing up on far more applications than they were a year ago. Every one of those triggers an extra technical review.

The response is specific, which I'll give them credit for: the Program Administrator is expanding the application processing team, building automated review enhancements, and has added more than 200 hours per month of battery schematic review capacity. It also plans to move battery schematic review into the program portal to cut turnaround.

What bothers me isn't the backlog. Surges happen. It's that the program set a public date, missed it, and reset it in a document homeowners will never open. If you signed a contract in May on the understanding that this would be sorted by August, nobody told you otherwise.

What I'd do about it

If you already signed and you're waiting, check the lookup tool and ask your installer for your Part I or Part II status by name. Ten weeks of silence is currently normal, and panic isn't useful — but neither is a vague answer from whoever sold you the system.

If you're still deciding, put this in the math honestly. Buying gets you the credits and the $20 customer-owned adder, and it also gets you the line. A lease hands the paperwork to the system owner and starts saving from the first bill, with Illinois lease pricing as low as $0.10 per kWh and a predictable rate schedule written into the contract before you sign. Neither is the right answer for everyone. The full incentive picture is worth reading before you choose.

Want a straight answer on where your project stands, or what a 10-week queue means for a system you haven't bought yet? Run your own numbers on the savings calculator or the REC calculator, read the program breakdown on our Illinois Shines page, or call me at (618) 217-2001. You can also reach out here.

All program figures above are the Illinois Power Agency's own, as published in its weekly announcements from July 24 through August 28, 2026. All savings figures are estimates, not promises.

Frequently Asked Questions

As of the Illinois Power Agency's August 28, 2026 weekly announcement, Part I application review is running 10 weeks and Part II review is running 10 weeks. The program's own target is a two-week turnaround, so both stages are roughly five times longer than they should be. Part I sat at 14 weeks through the August 7, 14 and 21 announcements, so the 10-week figure is progress, but it is not a fix. The Program Administrator blames a simultaneous spike in Small DG Part I applications and Part II submissions, singling out a high volume of applications that include battery schematics. Small DG covers systems of 25 kilowatts and under, which is virtually every home rooftop system in Illinois. If your project includes a battery, plan on the longer end of the range, because storage projects get an extra technical review of their schematic that the program says may extend the timeline.

Yes. In its July 24, 2026 weekly announcement, the program said it expected Part I reviews to return to the two-week target by mid-August 2026 and Part II by the end of September. Mid-August came and went and neither happened. A program update posted August 6, 2026 quietly replaced those dates, and it now says the Program Administrator anticipates a return to the target two-week review time for Part I applications by mid-October and Part II by the end of November. That is a two-month slip on both stages, and it was published in vendor-facing updates rather than anywhere a homeowner would look. Every weekly announcement since, through August 28, repeats the same October and November dates, so as of this writing the revised timeline is the current official position, not a one-week anomaly. I will update this post if the dates move again.

Generally no. This is a paperwork queue, not a construction queue, and the two get confused constantly. Your building permits, your utility interconnection, and your installer's schedule all run on separate tracks that this review has no control over. An installed system can be producing power on your roof while its Part II paperwork is still sitting in the line. What the backlog actually holds up is program approval and, through Part II verification, the start of your renewable energy credit payments. For a purchase, that is real money arriving later than you planned. There is also a monthly cutoff worth knowing about: the program has stated that applications Part II verified on or before September 24, 2026 land in the October invoicing period, while anything reviewed between September 26 and September 30 gets pushed to November invoicing. Missing a cutoff by a day can cost a month.

Illinois Shines runs a public project lookup tool that most homeowners have no idea exists. You do not need an account. The tool accepts exactly one of three things: your Application ID, your Disclosure Form ID, or the customer email address on the account. Only one field can contain data, or the lookup will not run at all, which trips up a lot of people on their first try. It shows where your project sits in the program's enrollment steps, which is usually enough to tell whether you are stuck or simply waiting in a normal queue. The program also publishes application processing tables that are updated daily, and the Program Administrator takes questions at 877-783-1820 or admin@IllinoisShines.com. If your installer cannot tell you which stage your project is in by name, check it yourself rather than accepting a vague answer.

No, and the difference is worth understanding before you pick how to pay. Under a lease you do not own the system, so you are not the party waiting on a renewable energy credit contract. The system owner files the program paperwork and carries the credit side of the arrangement, and your savings come from your monthly lease rate instead of a state payment sitting in a review queue. Illinois lease pricing currently starts as low as $0.10 per kWh. If you buy with cash or financing, the credits are yours, which is the genuine upside of ownership, but it also means you are personally standing in a 10-week line that the state has said will not clear until roughly mid-October. Neither path is automatically better. The queue is simply a real cost of ownership right now, and it belongs in the comparison alongside price.