NORMAL — Even in a house of faith, Larry Schrader faced some skepticism about solar power.

"We were able to bank enough in September to account for what we used, so our base bill was a little under $35. That’s the meter charge. … The associate pastor said, ‘I was blown away when I heard that. Did you expect it?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’" said Schrader, a member of Mennonite Church of Normal. "You always get some ‘Doubting Thomases’. … Hopefully they’ll be believers now."

As of last month, the 805 Cottage Ave. facility had 180 solar panels, providing more than enough power to support its operations and putting the church on track to pay them off in seven years — leaving decades more of free energy.

New installations of that size are becoming a rarity, however, due to dwindling incentives and delays in passing state legislation to address them, according to experts in the field.

"We were on such a positive trajectory of job growth in Illinois with this industry, the momentum it had, and we really are just sitting and waiting," said Shannon Fulton, vice president of Illinois development for StraightUp Solar, a multi-state installer with a Bloomington office. "There are a whole lot of stranded projects."

The Path to 100 Act — 100 meaning 100 percent of the state’s energy from renewable sources — emerged during the General Assembly’s spring session but wasn’t passed. Supporters didn’t expect it to resurface during the General Assembly’s fall veto session, either.

The coalition is pushing for more incentives like those doled out in an Illinois Power Agency lottery this spring. That process showed how much demand is pent up, with just 112 of 909 community solar developments getting awards.

"The state put in place a goal to reach 25 percent clean energy in 2025, and that’s not going to happen without a policy that gets us there," said Peter Gray, a spokesperson for the Path to 100 Coalition. "There’s no reason the state can’t get this legislation done in 2020."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker in January also pledged Illinois will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Pritzker at the time said Illinois is on track to get 25 percent of its power from renewable sources, referring to a requirement by the Future Energy Jobs Act, a bill that resulted in a boom in solar energy across the state.

Several smaller systems, however, are progressing thanks to a group-purchase arrangement organized by the Normal-based Ecology Action Center and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association. That’s through Grow Solar BN, an effort to spread solar adoption once called Solar Bloomington-Normal.

This year’s group-buy brought in 18 customers — 17 of them residential — with systems totaling 144 kilowatts. Over three group-buys, the program has helped build 987 kilowatts in panels across 78 properties in McLean County.

EAC is unlikely to work on a similar group-buy in 2020, however, as staffers shift their focus to Illinois Solar-for-All, a state-funded initiative to improve solar access and adoption among low-income residents and communities.

"Qualifying individuals, families and nonprofits don’t pay any upfront costs for any solar installation. … That removes a fairly large barrier," said EAC Assistant Director Larissa Armstrong. "Part of it is also to make sure low-income communities can participate in job growth."

"People will always need reliable consumer education around a technology like this, though," MREA Solar Program Director Peter Murphy said of not organizing a group-buy in 2020. "MREA and EAC are happy to avail ourselves to opportunities to provide that education."