Illinois had a record year for solar growth in 2024 and can now draw enough energy from the sun to power 930,000 homes, according to a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie.

Illinois added 2.5 gigawatts of solar capacity last year — nearly doubling the total amount in the state.

Only the sun-kissed states of Texas, California and Florida did better.

“Illinois is rocking and a lot of the credit for that can really go to the Illinois legislature,” said Solar Energy Industries Association Senior Vice President of Policy Sean Gallagher, referring to the state’s ambitious climate laws of 2016 and 2021.

“(That’s) really helped create the conditions in Illinois for the solar industry to grow and for customers to benefit,” he said.

The solar surge extended to the nation as a whole, which installed a record 50 gigawatts of capacity, a 21% increase over 2023, according to the report, U.S. Solar Market Insight 2024 Year in Review, produced by the trade group and the global analytics company.

Solar accounted for 66% of all new electricity generating capacity added to the U.S. grid in 2024, outpacing wind and natural gas.

All solar segments set annual installation records except for residential solar, which had its worst year since 2021. Residential solar — a category dominated by rooftop solar — was affected by company bankruptcies, high interest rates and consumer hesitancy ahead of the 2024 election, the report said.

Illinois was one of the few states to see an increase in the amount of residential solar added, due in part to a rush to install rooftop solar before a Jan. 1 change affecting how customers are credited for supplying solar energy to the grid. That change in bill credits could result in some customers seeing somewhat lower savings, although consumer advocates say solar remains a great deal.

Illinois was third in the nation — after California and Florida — in the total amount of residential solar installed in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The report noted potential problems for solar at a time when President Donald Trump is trying to roll back incentives and tax credits in former President Joe Biden’s signature 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act.

Starting on the first day of his presidency, Trump issued executive orders calling for a temporary freeze on many clean energy initiatives and voicing strong support for fossil fuels.

His “Unleashing American Energy” order expressed concerns about “burdensome and ideologically motivated (energy) regulations” that have, in his view, raised customer energy costs.

The costs of different types of energy are difficult to compare, but Lazard’s 2024 Levelized Cost of Energy+ report found that electricity from onshore wind and utility-scale solar is now less expensive than electricity from natural gas.

The solar industry report calculated that if conditions became less favorable for solar — with setbacks including reductions in federal tax credits — growth would slow, with a 25% decrease in total solar installations through 2035.

Government tax incentives played a role in solar’s 2024 performance, along with factors such as growing demand for electricity, Gallagher said.

“There’s a lot of reasons solar is doing so well,” he said. “One is customers want it: Everybody from residential customers that want to put solar on rooftops to big data companies and tech companies that want to buy clean energy to prove their sustainability bona fides.”

At a time of high demand, solar can be added to the grid faster than other new electricity sources, he said. He estimated a large solar project can be developed and installed in roughly two years, compared with about five years for a new conventional power plant.

The report notes that regions with a higher number of solar projects on federal lands, such as the Southwest, will likely experience project delays due to Trump’s temporary freeze on federal permits.

And the report acknowledges the uncertainty stemming from Trump’s campaign to freeze federal funding for many clean energy projects.

Still, the report says, the solar industry remains optimistic.

“You can’t turn this industry off, ” Gallagher said. “You can’t turn the desire by customers for this kind of power off.”

Gallagher pointed to a recent letter from 21 House Republicans to the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. According to Politco, the letter calls for the preservation of Biden’s clean energy tax credits and says developing clean energy is critical to meeting Trump’s goal of becoming “energy dominant.”

The letter also warns that if certain clean energy tax credits are cut, customers will quickly see higher utility bills.

“If you reduce supply and demand stays constant, what happens? Prices go up,” Gallagher said.

_______

©2025 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.