Illinois Shines
Illinois Shines is the state's Adjustable Block Program: the state buys the Renewable Energy Credits from approved solar projects at a fixed price that steps down as each block fills, and under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act those projects are public works that must pay Illinois prevailing wage. Every contractor and subcontractor files a Certified Transcript of Payroll with the Illinois Department of Labor each month, and an underpayment carries monthly interest and a penalty on top of back wages.
Public works, so prevailing wage, notice and records.
Under Section 1-75(c)(1)(Q) of the Illinois Power Agency Act (20 ILCS 3855), as modified by CEJA (Public Act 102-0662), projects in Illinois Shines are public works. Workers on the construction of eligible projects are paid the applicable prevailing wage, and projects meet the notice and record-keeping requirements of the Prevailing Wage Act.
The program has four blocks, Distributed Generation, Traditional Community Solar, Community-Driven Community Solar and Public Schools, and REC prices are set by utility service area: Group A (Ameren Illinois, MidAmerican, Mt. Carmel and MISO-area co-ops and municipals) and Group B (ComEd and PJM-area municipals and co-ops).
Source: the Illinois Shines guide on dsptch.work/illinois-shines-act, which cites the Illinois Shines Program Guidebook (updated March 13, 2024).
- Attest in the Part I application. Every approved vendor certifies, via the Prevailing Wage Attestation checkbox, that it understands prevailing wage may apply.
- Give notice down the chain. Designees, contractors and subcontractors get sufficient notice that prevailing wage applies, the proper rate for the county, and the posting and record-keeping requirements.
- Check the IDOL rate, regularly. Contractors and subcontractors review the local rate on the Illinois Department of Labor website and account for its periodic changes.
- Post the rate. Written notice of the applicable rates to all construction employees, by a poster at the work site or main office or by other written communication.
- Pay it, and file monthly. Each designee, contractor and subcontractor pays the proper rate and submits a Certified Transcript of Payroll (CTOP) to the IDOL Certified Transcript of Payroll Portal every month during construction.
- Hand the transcripts in at Part II. Approved vendors submit all IDOL certified transcripts to the Shines Program Administrator with the Part II application.
- Exceptions. Residential DG; DG serving a house of worship up to 100 kW AC (aggregated with any co-located project); large DG (over 25 kW AC) on the waitlist at the December 14, 2021 reopening; DG that began construction before September 15, 2021; and 10 to 25 kW projects first submitted to the Large DG category before November 1, 2021.
Penalties if IDOL finds an underpayment
The county rate on the job, the gap before the interest starts.
The IDOL county rate is held on the job and applied to each worker's classification, every hour is priced against it the same day, and the monthly Certified Transcript of Payroll comes from the same record.
IDOL county rates, checked for the periodic change.
The county rate is added to the job with its source and assigned by classification. When IDOL publishes a change, affected workers are re-rated and the change is logged, so the regular review the program asks for is built in.
Per worker, per week, before the month closes.
Wage and fringe required against paid, so a short week is corrected on the next payroll rather than carried into the transcript.
A Certified Transcript of Payroll every month.
Built per contractor from the hours and payroll in the IDOL portal's format, ready for the monthly filing and for the Part II hand-in.
Apprentice rates and documentation with the payroll.
Apprentices are covered workers under Shines. Their rate is checked like everyone else's and their documentation is kept with the certified payroll. The Shines guide sets no labor-hour or ratio test.
No cure window, so the gap is shown the week it opens.
Interest runs monthly from the underpayment and the penalty is a share of it, so the cheapest correction is the one made on the next payroll. DSPTCH flags each short week as it is priced.
Programs an Illinois solar job often carries alongside Shines.
Bring one month of payroll. We'll show you the transcript it becomes.
On a demo we put the IDOL county rate on a job, price a worker's week against it, and build the Certified Transcript of Payroll from the hours.