“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.”
“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.”
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