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Illinois Shines Portal Pause for Interim Capacity Reallocation
As previously announced, following the issuance of a Modified 2024 Long-Term Plan, the Program published a Program Guidebook Addendum to detail changes resulting from the Plan Re-Opening. All Program requirements set forth in the 2025-26 Program Guidebook will continue, with considerations described in the Program Guidebook Addendum, including temporary Program Portal closures, block structure updates, developer cap notes, and processes relating to Traditional Community Solar, Community-Driven Community Solar, Public Schools, and Equity Eligible Contractor categories and capacity.
Changes from the 2024 Long-Term Plan Re-opening included imposing an interim reallocation of 50% of remaining unused capacity on April 1, 2026, to distribute among waitlisted projects as the waitlist exists on April 1, 2026. To expand the capacity, the Program will pause for two business days, from 12:00 a.m. on March 30, 2026, through March 31, 2026. The Portal is scheduled to reopen at 8:00 a.m. on April 1, 2026.
During the Program pause:
- All Disclosure Form functionality, including the ability to create and submit Disclosure Forms and obtain signatures, will be available.
- Access to project applications and batches will be unavailable in the Illinois Shines Portal.
- The ability for Approved Vendors to create, revise, submit, and batch project applications will be paused within the Portal.
- Project data may be exported from the Application Dashboard prior to the pause. To export data, navigate to Menu: Project Applications -> View. Then apply your preferred Search Filters in the column headings. When you’re ready to export, select the “Export Project Data” button at the top of the page.
During the Portal closure, the Program will determine the amount of unused capacity and redistribute it in accordance with the prioritization for year-end reallocation set out in Section 7.3.4 of the 2024 Long-Term Plan, with the exception of the 25% rollover of unallocated Public Schools capacity. Developer caps currently in effect will continue to apply after capacity is added. Resulting project approvals and updated waitlists will follow.
