Commercial Solar Panels Illinois
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Commercial Solar Companies in Chicago, IL

Commercial solar engineered for Chicago manufacturers, warehouses, cold storage, and institutional campuses, permitted through the city and built under one contract.

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93Energy

Commercial Solar Built for Chicago Facilities

Chicago is home to facilities with the kind of steady daytime electrical demand that can make on-site solar a practical investment. Manufacturing plants in the city’s industrial corridors, refrigerated distribution facilities near major rail and interstate routes, hospital campuses, and schools operating most of the year all use significant amounts of power during the same hours a well-designed solar array is producing electricity.

93Energy is a commercial solar EPC company, which means engineering, procurement, and construction sit under one contract. We model the array against your interval data, design it, then carry the permits through the Chicago Department of Buildings and the interconnection application through ComEd. Chicago is the largest of the Illinois markets we cover from our Evanston base, giving our team direct experience with the permitting, utility, and site requirements that shape commercial solar projects throughout the area.

Why Chicago Businesses Are Adding Commercial Solar

Chicago’s Energy Benchmarking Ordinance requires commercial and institutional buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to track whole-building energy use, report that information to the City each year, and verify the data every three years. For covered properties, much of the consumption data needed to begin an energy model may already be available, which can make the early stages of a solar project more efficient.

Industries We Serve Get Financing

Permitting is a separate process and works differently in Chicago than it does in many surrounding suburbs. The City enforces its own electrical code through the Department of Buildings, and a commercial rooftop solar project generally requires both building and electrical permits. Because the permit application must reflect the final system capacity and array layout, the design needs to be settled before anything is filed.

Chicago buildings can also present practical site constraints that affect the design and installation plan. Older roof structures, crowded mechanical areas, and limited open space can reduce the amount of usable roof area. On sites with little or no room for material staging, crane access, delivery routes, and street access also need to be worked out during pre-construction rather than after installation begins.

Learn more link: Solar and Battery Cost Savings →

How It Works

Our EPC Approach

One company models the system, engineers it, files for it, and runs the build.

1

Site Assessment and Energy Modeling

We start with twelve months of interval data, the usable roof or land area, and the electrical service serving the building. For properties covered by Chicago’s benchmarking requirements, much of that energy-use history may already be assembled.

From there, energy modeling shows how much electricity the site can generate compared with what the facility actually consumes. Financial modeling then translates that system performance into project costs, savings, incentives, and other figures your finance team can review and audit line by line.

Commercial Solar ROI →

2

Engineering and System Design

Our engineers develop the structural, electrical, and layout drawings for your building, including snow and wind load calculations, attachment details, and electrical protection requirements. A taller Chicago building faces different wind conditions than a single-story suburban facility, so the system has to be designed for the specific structure rather than applied from a standard layout. The array also has to work around rooftop mechanical equipment, required service clearances, and other existing infrastructure. If a roof replacement is already part of your capital plan, we account for that during design so the solar installation fits the building’s longer-term maintenance schedule.

3

Permitting, AHJ Review, and Interconnection

Every submission is ours to carry: state-level requirements, the Chicago Department of Buildings as your authority having jurisdiction, or AHJ, and the ComEd interconnection application through approval. Filings go in against a finished design, so the capacity on the application is the capacity that gets built. Your operations team never handles a form.

4

Construction, Commissioning, and PTO

Our field leadership runs the build with union electricians, coordinates city inspections, and commissions the system under load, with roof access and electrical cutovers scheduled around your operating calendar. You take ownership of a monitored, producing asset, complete with a full turnover package, permission to operate, and operations and maintenance available afterward.

5

Incentives and Financing for Chicago Projects

Incentive rules shift between one project and the next, so every model we build reflects the program terms in force when construction starts.

6

Federal Investment Credit

Commercial solar can qualify for federal investment credit value. The 30% figure most owners have heard depends on whether the project satisfies applicable rules, including prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements, and eligibility also turns on when construction begins. That timing is why safe harbor comes up early on larger builds. Your tax advisor makes the final call on what a given project qualifies for, and we supply the project documentation that advisor and your finance team need.

ITC Safe Harbor Rules →

7

Illinois Shines and SRECs

Illinois Shines is the state's renewable energy credit program, and it pays commercial system owners for what their arrays generate through SRECs, or solar renewable energy credits. 93Energy holds Approved Vendor status on the state's official list as a distributed generation installer and project developer, the status that lets a company enroll projects and deliver those payments. Every Chicago proposal we send models SREC revenue next to the energy the array offsets.

8

Depreciation and Ownership Structures

An owner-occupier that pays federal income tax can usually own the system outright, take depreciation, and hold the asset on its balance sheet. A hospital system, school district, or nonprofit reaches incentive value by a different route, and the right structure depends on entity type, ownership, and project timing. We model each path against your capital plan and bring you the comparison before you choose a structure.

Financing Options →

About 93Energy Operations and Maintenance

Why Chicago Owners Choose 93Energy

Approved Vendor status on file. Illinois lists 93Energy on its official Illinois Shines vendor list as a distributed generation installer and project developer.

One contract from design through PTO. Engineering, procurement, construction, and development are all in house, so accountability never moves between vendors.

Chicago permitting and ComEd interconnection handled. State requirements, the Department of Buildings, and utility approval are ours to carry.

Building in Illinois since December 2018. Our base is Evanston, and our work runs across the state.

A portfolio at commercial scale. Our published project portfolio includes a 527KW heavy manufacturing installation, a 695KW education build, a 500KW hospital carport, and a 260KW public works project.

Behind-the-meter ownership. The array sits on your building and feeds your operation before anything reaches the grid, which is what drives the return.

Storage and EV charging on the same drawing set. Battery storage and EV charger installation can be engineered into the system now or staged for a later phase.

Battery Storage Incentives → Financing Options
exterior shot of an office building in Chicago, IL, with solar panels on the rooftop

Industries We Serve in Chicago

Five sectors carry most of the commercial load in the city, and each one changes how the system gets built. Municipal buildings and nonprofit facilities follow the same path.

Manufacturing and Industrial

Plants in the city's industrial corridors sit on tight parcels, and their equipment pulls hard for the length of a shift. Layout works around production schedules, roof load limits, and everything already mounted above the floor.


Solar for Manufacturing →

Warehousing and Distribution

Wide, mostly clear roofs make these the simplest commercial buildings to array, since fewer obstructions mean fewer penetrations and a shorter time on site.


Solar for Warehouses →

Cold Storage

Refrigeration runs continuously, which gives cold storage the flattest and most predictable load profile of any commercial building type in the city, and steady daytime demand is what makes an on-site array pay.


Solar for Cold Storage →

Hospitals and Healthcare Campuses

Campuses run around the clock and cannot lose power to construction, so the work gets phased and cutovers scheduled around clinical operations. Our published portfolio includes a 500KW hospital carport installation.


Solar for Hospitals →

Schools and Districts

A district spreads a fixed energy budget across many buildings and can only take construction in the summer. Our education work includes a 695KW installation delivered on that calendar.


Solar for Schools →
Industries We Serve About 93Energy
solar panels

Free Solar Energy Analysis

A commercial solar decision should rest on measured numbers. Our free analysis puts a figure on what your roof or site can generate, what the array would cost to build, what the incentives are worth under current rules, and how the result lands against what you pay ComEd today. The analysis is a zero-commitment quote with no strings attached.

4.7 Star Avg. on Google

  • From starting the system design with Allen to Engineering, the set up with Mark and the install with seasoned electrician Nick this was an amazing experience. We installed an Enphase system with battery back up on our single-family home in Chicago. I highly recommend 93 energy for anybody looking for a system in the city of Chicago. This crew knows how to navigate the city  and Comed bureaucracy along with the permitting  and they do it with high quality  and efficiency.

    June 13, 2024
    JC Jace Cole

  • You wont find these guys in Homedepot but could not ask for a better solar installer in town. Very down to earth, very responsive, and got the best deal on Enphase among the 7 other companies I called. Locally based and licensed, permit approved in record time, design to instal- 3 weeks, no issues with getting the state or the federal refund checks, full support and transparency from start to finish. Looking for the best deal in Chicago land, look no further and give Mark, Allen and Mitch a call- they will take care of you like they did to me.

    April 9, 2024
    GC Georgi Cakov

  • Great customer service, straightforward and streamllined process.What you are quoted is what you get with quality panels.

    March 16, 2024
    LB Lara Balogun

  • I highly recommend 93Energy for Solar. They have amazing staff that took care of all the concerns and questions I had, and the crew did a fabulous job with the installation in a timely manner. It was a great experience working with them.

    January 6, 2023
    AT Aalap Thakkar

  • 93energy did everything they promised. The install crew was professional, efficient, careful, neat, and friendly. 93energy kept us informed, was excited about solar, and used products of the highest quality. We highly recommend them!

    January 3, 2023
    RR Robert Ross

  • I rarely leave review but I would highly recommend this company to do the solar work as their price is great and the installation is clean. I have great experience with Allen, Nick and their customer service is top notch. I'm really happy with the solar system that they have put for me and I'm on the right track of saving my energy bill.

    October 6, 2022
    JC Jevon Chen

  • Price was reasonable and the installation was top notch. I would definitely recommend others if they are going solar to definitely consider 93 energy. The work was completed on time and I can see the benefits from going solar. Rob was quick in responding for any questions or queries I had regarding solar and the installation. Nick did a good job in completing the installation on time.

    January 6, 2022
    VJ Vinod Jefrey

  • Thanks to the 93 Energy Team, my wife and I are very happy with all aspects of our purchase and installation of our panels from SunPower. Sales and installation from 93 Energy was incompatible. I already have referred you to others.

    January 3, 2022
    RS Robert Scales

Cities We Serve

Chicago Joilet Aurora Skokie Schaumburg Elgin Naperville Peoria Rockford Springfield Waukegan Champaign-Urbana Decatur Bloomington-Normal

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes. A commercial installation in the city generally requires both a building permit and an electrical permit through the Department of Buildings, reviewed against Chicago's own electrical code rather than the version used in the collar counties. We prepare and carry both, along with the ComEd interconnection application.

  • Considerably. Buildings over 50,000 square feet report whole-building energy use to the City each year, so the consumption record we would otherwise spend weeks assembling is already in hand. We still pull interval data for the hourly detail, though the starting point is much further along.

  • Less than the footprint suggests, on most city buildings. Mechanical equipment, service clearances, roof age, and structural capacity all reduce usable area, which is why we survey what is available rather than working from square footage. Where the roof cannot reach your target offset, a parking canopy or a ground array usually closes the gap.

  • After the design is finished. The interconnection application has to state the correct system size and number of arrays, so engineering comes first, then the filings with ComEd and the City. Approval and permission to operate arrive at the end, once the system has been inspected and commissioned.

  • No. Crane positions, roof access, and electrical cutovers all get mapped against your operating calendar during pre-construction, and the outages that remain are short and scheduled for a window you choose.

solar panels being installe don roof top

See What Solar Can Do for Your Chicago Facility

A commercial solar project should start with real numbers, not a generic estimate. Send 93Energy twelve months of utility data along with a roof or site plan, and our team will evaluate the property, model expected production, identify available incentives, and map out a path through Department of Buildings review and ComEd approval for your solar future today.

Get an Estimate and Contact Us

Get your free solar & energy analysis.

Have questions about installing solar panels or utilizing other energy solutions? Contact 93Energy to get your zero-commitment quote!

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