To become an Approved Vendor, interested entities will need to complete an Approved Vendor application form which will be reviewed and approved by the Administrator. The approval process must be completed before any project applications can be submitted by an Approved Vendor to the Program.
Become an Approved Vendor
Requirements to Become an Approved Vendor
Approved Vendor Final Documents
Approved Vendor Adjustable Block Program Timeline (Jan 2020)Illinois Shines TimelineApproved Vendor Responsibilities
Project Application Submission
Once Approved Vendors have been accepted to the Adjustable Block Program, they will have access to an online dashboard through which they can complete consumer disclosure forms, upload marketing materials, submit project applications, and submit annual reports.
All applications to the Program are completed online by an Approved Vendor on a project by project basis. Once projects are accepted to the Program, Approved Vendors will be required to post collateral to assure REC production under the contracts they sign with the utilities.
Annual Report
Once Approved Vendors have projects verified by the Program Administrator and have executed contracts with a utility, they will have to file an Annual Report. The Annual Report will serve as the basis for verifying that RECs from projects are being delivered to the applicable utility and, absent corrective actions taken by the Approved Vendor, will be used to determine what actions should be taken by the utilities to enforce the contractual requirements that RECs are delivered, including, but not limited to, drawing on collateral. Additionally, the Annual Report will be used by the Agency to consider the ongoing eligibility of an Approved Vendor to continue participation in the program.
Annual Report Guide for Approved Vendors
A full list of Approved Vendor responsibilities can be found in the 2022 Long-Term Plan and in the October ’22 Guidebook. The Program Administrator has drafted the specifics of these responsibilities which reside in the Program Guidebook.
Information on submitting the Approved Vendor Annual Report requirement
Section 7.15 of the 2022 Long-Term Plan describes an annual report requirement for each Approved Vendor:
On an annual basis, each Approved Vendor is required submit an Annual Report of the contracts and systems in its portfolio. The Annual Report serves as the basis for verifying that RECs from projects are being delivered to the applicable utility, and, absent corrective actions taken by the Approved Vendor, will be used to determine what actions should be taken by the utilities to enforce the contractual requirements that RECs are delivered, including, but not limited to, drawing on collateral. Additionally, the Annual Report will be used by the Agency to consider the ongoing eligibility of an Approved Vendor to continue participation in the program.
Please note that failure to submit an annual report may be considered an Event of Default under the REC contract and could affect an Approved Vendor’s ongoing status in the Program.
Please note that failure to submit an annual report may be considered an Event of Default under the REC contract and could affect an Approved Vendor’s ongoing status in the Program. Approved Vendors will be given 90 days after the annual report submission deadline to cure any deficiencies found, and the failure to cure deficiencies may also be considered an Event of Default.
Please note that per Section 6(d) of the REC contract, collateral drawdowns take place only after a project has been Energized for at least three full energy years.
The annual report includes the following items for all projects:
- RECs delivered by each of the systems in the portfolio
- Status of all systems that have been approved, but not yet energized, including any extensions requested and granted (Note that extension requests cannot be made through this annual report. They must be made pursuant to guidance issued by the IPA on May 5, 2020.)
- Energized systems that have not delivered RECs in the year
- Balance of collateral held by each utility
- A summary of requests for REC obligations reductions due to force majeure events
- A summary of requests for REC obligations, suspensions, reductions, or eliminations due to force majeure events
- Information on consumer complaints received
- Other information related to ongoing program participation, including use of graduates of job training programs and other information related to increasing the diversity of the solar workforce
The last item above is currently the topic of a stakeholder comment process; as a result, job training information likely will be collected separately from the rest of the annual report data after the stakeholder comment process concludes.
The annual report also includes the following items for community solar projects only:
- Percentage of each system subscribed on a capacity basis
- The number and type of subscribers (e.g., residential, small commercial, large commercial/industrial), including capacity allocated to each type
- Subscriber turn-over rates
Rather than require the Approved Vendor to compile much of the information for the Annual Report independently, many of the items Approved Vendors are required to report on will be provided by the Program Administrator. For these items, the Approved Vendor will only need to either confirm the accuracy of the data or note any discrepancies in the data set provided.
Please reach out to the Program Administrator at (877) 783-1820 or [email protected] with any questions regarding the annual reporting process.