Become an Equity Eligible Contractor

With the passage of Public Act 102-0662, a new distinction for Approved Vendors was formed under the Adjustable Block Program called Equity Eligible Contractors (EECs). This new type of Approved Vendor receives the same REC price as other project applications submitted to the program, but are offered a distinct block of capacity that is reserved for those that qualify as EECs.

Approved Vendors that would like to submit projects into the Equity Eligible Contractor (EEC) category must first apply to become EEC certified. They may do so in conjunction with their Approved Vendor application or at any time after submitting their initial Approved Vendor application.

EEC certification occurs at the ownership/partner/proprietor level of a company (or board level in the case of non-profit organizations). This means that one or more owners of a company must qualify as an EEC under one of the qualifications listed below.

There are several ways to qualify as an EEC:

1. Persons who graduated from or are current or former participants in the Clean Jobs Workforce Network Program, the Clean Energy Contractor Incubator Program, the Illinois Climate Works Preapprenticeship Program, Returning Residents Clean Jobs Training Program, or the Clean Energy Primes Contractor Accelerator Program, and the solar training pipeline and multi-cultural jobs program created in paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(3) of Section 16-108.21 of the Public Utilities Act;
2. Persons who are graduates of or currently enrolled in the foster care system;
3. Persons who were formerly incarcerated; or
4. Persons whose primary residence is in an equity investment eligible community.*

More information on qualification processes can be found in Section 2.B of the Program Guidebook. Proof of residence or graduation will be required if qualifying under options #1 or #4 above. Equity investment eligible community is defined below.

All applicants seeking EEC certification must attest to their qualifications. On the attestation, applicants will have the option to have any of the information provided to certify as EEC treated as confidential. The attestation can be viewed below.

Clarifications on EEC Certification

• “Formerly Incarcerated” means any individual who (i) was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, not including juvenile detention, after the disposition of one or more misdemeanor or felony charges; and (ii) has completed their sentence.
• For the purposes of eligibility to be an EEP or the EEC certification, a “graduate or enrollee” of the foster care system refers to an individual who is currently or was formerly a youth in care of the IL Department of Children and Family Services, or the equivalent agency in another state.

Currently, job training programs that were developed as a result of the passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act (P.A. 99-0906) are being managed by Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) until June 30, 2022.

At that time, the management of these programs will change hands from ComEd to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). These programs are will also be updated in size and scope. This change was mandated by the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (P.A. 102-0662), which was signed into law on September 15, 2021.

As this transition is currently in process and DCEO is actively standing up the job training programs, there will be a gap in availability of these programs from July 1, 2022 until the programs are available for new applicants via DCEO. The Program Administrator will update this page once new information on job training programs becomes available.

Past graduates of job training programs made available by the Future Energy Jobs Act (P.A. 99-0906) are still eligible for EEC certification during this transition period. These programs and their offerors are listed below. Please note that some offerors provide multiple trainings and only the specific training programs listed below are eligible for EEC certification.

Future Energy Jobs Act Supported Job Training Programs & Offerors

• Solar Pipeline Training Program: Elevate, Illinois Central College, OAI, Inc. and the Safer Foundation
• Multi-Cultural Job Training Program: ASPIRA, Inc of Illinois (ASPIRA), Austin Peoples Action Center (APAC), Chatham Business Association Small Business Development, Inc (Chatham Business Association), Chicago Urban League, Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA), and National Latino Education Institute (NLEI).

If you or a colleague are a graduate of a training program and are unsure whether it is a qualifying program for Adjustable Block Program EEC certification, please reach out to the Program Administrator for confirmation.

Equity investment eligible communities as defined by P.A. 102-0662 include R3 Areas as established pursuant to the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, and Environmental Justice Communities as established through Illinois Solar for All Program.

For maps and address lookup tools for these two types of areas see https://r3.illinois.gov/eligibility  and https://www.illinoissfa.com/environmental-justice-communities/ respectively.