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By Canary Media
By Canary Media
Canary Media
Lawmakers backing an Illinois bill that would clear the way for balcony solar have ended their push to pass the measure this year. With three weeks still to go in the legislative session, they hit a stalemate as opponents, including the state’s powerful electrical workers union, raised concerns about safety.
Advocates and lawmakers who had championed the bill were unhappy with an amendment filed on April 24 that would have prohibited the small plug-in solar panels until national standards are updated to include them.
Supporters say that other states have passed balcony solar laws without that provision. They contend that plugging in a small solar panel is no more dangerous than plugging in a washing machine or hair dryer.
“The whole point of the bill is to make these things safe,” said Kady McFadden, an Illinois lobbyist who focuses on clean energy and was leading legislative strategy for Senate Bill 3104. “It’s finding the right pieces to make sure consumers are safe, and also balancing that with being able to deploy these things.”
Given the amendment and concerns from stakeholders including the union, the lawmakers sponsoring the bill decided against further action, according to McFadden.
Environmental and clean energy groups have worked closely with lawmakers in Illinois and around the country to promote plug-in solar as a way to help people lower their energy bills and access small-scale renewable energy technology. Utah passed the country’s first balcony solar bill in 2025, and Maine and Colorado followed suit this spring. More than half the states nationwide are considering balcony solar bills, and legislators have sent them to governors’ desks in Maryland and Virginia.
The Illinois bill specified that interconnection agreements from utilities would not be necessary for plug-in solar arrays of up to 1,200 watts, and that landlords and homeowners’ associations could not enact barriers to arrays of 391 watts or smaller. Balcony solar systems worldwide typically range from 200 watts to 1,600 watts.
An amendment filed in February would have prohibited any plug-in solar systems greater than 391 watts until the National Electrical Code, a widely used set of safety standards, is updated to include these arrays — a move that is not scheduled until late 2028. The April amendment would have barred any plug-in solar at all until those standards are amended.
“The wait until that code update could be years in the future,” said Kavi Chintam, Illinois campaign manager for the advocacy group Vote Solar. Chintam noted that the bill would have required plug-in solar arrays to be certified by UL Solutions (formerly Underwriters Laboratories), which sets safety standards for appliances and other household goods, or an equivalent organization.
In the state Senate, 139 residents or stakeholder groups filed “witness slips” in support of the balcony solar bill, while three filed in opposition, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers state conference. The representative who filed the IBEW’s slip did not respond to requests for comment for this story, nor did two IBEW local chapters.
“We were disappointed to see the opposition” from electricians, said McFadden, noting that a balcony solar bill recently unanimously passed the state Senate in New York, “which also is a labor-heavy state.”
Bill supporters believed they wouldn’t be able to reach consensus on a measure that would allow Illinoisans to quickly adopt balcony solar, so they decided to wait for a future legislative session, McFadden said.
IBEW representatives also raised concerns about the safety of plug-in solar in Oregon, where a bill this spring failed to pass before the session ended.
McFadden said that during the legislative debate, the union representatives didn’t bring up fears about how the arrays might impact workers’ jobs, but proponents think IBEW may be concerned that plug-in solar does not require an electrician for installation. Chintam said advocates hope to reassure union members that balcony solar would not cut into demand for rooftop solar, which creates jobs for installers and electricians.
“This is a completely different market than what rooftop solar does,” Chintam said. “It would be small potatoes in terms of the kilowatts that rooftop solar brings. Obviously, we care about the workforce part of solar, but this is a totally different category meant to be purely for appliance-level savings.”
McFadden noted that in the past, it’s taken more than one legislative session to enact clean energy bills, most recently the 2025 Clean and Reliable Grid Act as well as sweeping bills that passed in 2021 and 2016.
“Illinois is unique — we like to do things our own way in the legislative process,” said McFadden. “It takes more than a year to pass a bill.”
Kari Lydersen is a contributing reporter at Canary Media who covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
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