Illinois homeowners can now get rooftop solar paired with a whopping 60-kWh home battery for no money down – but this isn’t free equipment.
Texas-based Solrite Energy has launched its solar-plus-storage program for qualifying homeowners in ComEd and Ameren Illinois territories. Solrite finances, owns, and maintains the system, while the homeowner buys the solar power it generates for 12 cents per kWh under a 25-year agreement.
That rate can rise by up to 2.9% each year. Customers will also continue to receive a utility bill for grid electricity and other applicable charges.
The standout is the battery. At 60 kWh, Solrite’s Duracell Power Center has more than four times the storage capacity of a 13.5 kWh Tesla Powerwall 3. It’s made up of 12 stackable 5 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery modules and has 15 kW of continuous output.
Solrite says the battery can keep essential loads running for days during an outage, although actual backup time will depend on how much electricity the household uses and how much charge is available when the grid goes down.
Why Illinois is a good fit
Illinois switched new rooftop solar customers from full-retail net metering to supply-only credits on January 1, 2025. That means customers no longer receive credit for delivery charges when they send excess solar power to the grid, making exported electricity less valuable.
A large battery lets homeowners store far more of that excess solar for use at night instead. It also allows Solrite to combine the batteries into a virtual power plant (VPP) that can respond to grid conditions.
Solrite says its battery platform can begin charging or discharging in as little as 30 seconds. Aggregated across thousands of homes, the systems act like a grid-scale power plant, supplying electricity or reducing demand during peak periods.
“Illinois families are watching their utility bills climb with no ceiling in sight, and the old solar playbook stopped working the day net metering went away,” said Solrite CEO and founder Regan George. “We are giving homeowners a predictable rate, a battery big enough to keep the lights on for days instead of hours, and a system that actually supports the grid they depend on.”
Solrite keeps the federal clean energy tax credits and Illinois Shines renewable energy credits because it owns the equipment. The company says those incentives, along with revenue earned from grid services, fund the no-money-down model.
However, Solrite doesn’t yet say how many Illinois homes it expects to enroll or the anticipated VPP capacity.
Illinois homeowners who already have rooftop solar can also apply to add a 60 kWh battery with no upfront payment, subject to a compatibility review.
Illinois is Solrite’s fifth market. It already operates similar residential energy programs in Texas, California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
Read more: Vermont’s largest energy source is now a virtual power plant
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