Renewable Energy on the GridThe Future Energy Jobs Act aims to turn 25 percent of Illinois’ power green by 2025, and already some residents and businesses are utilizing provisions of the bill to switch to more renewable energy sources.

In one Tazewell County township, plans are in the works for as many as 400 households to utilize renewable energy, according to the Peoria Journal Star.

Fondulac County could be the site of the first community solar project as early as 2019, pending zoning board approval. County administrators credited the Future Energy Jobs Act for making the investment in clean energy possible.

These advancements are made possible by the act’s wide range of tax credit incentives for businesses big and small, along with individuals wishing to switch to residential renewable power production or energy efficiency.

These incentives also have the potential to attract outside investors to help fund projects that government and nonprofit groups would otherwise be unable to afford.

The act also requires Illinois’ largest electric utilities to launch one of the nation’s most ambitious plans for customer electricity savings. By 2030, ComEd must expand and enhance customer efficiency programs to cut electricity waste by a record 21.5 percent, and Ameren must cut theirs by 16 percent.

Such measures are expected to lead to an onslaught of renewable energy development, which will create construction and engineering jobs, along with other work resulting from new installations.