By IL Radio Network
Springfield, IL – Solar power advocates are supporting legislation to increase its use in Illinois.
There are proposals to allow solar users to sell excess electricity to the electricity grid at the retail rate in higher volume, to allow cities to set up funds to help property owners borrow to install solar infrastructure, and to ban cities and homeowners associations from nixing solar panels for aesthetic reasons.
Center for Neighborhood Technology CEO Kathy Tholin says one good thing about solar power is it can be used where it is found.
Solar power is just sitting there and it's free, but in Illinois, it's under-used according to Alex Silva of Environment Illinois.
He says the state has only 3.3 megawatts of solar power on-line, more than 500 times less than the state's installed capacity of wind power, and less than 27 individual cities in California alone.
