Build my proposal

The product

Solar on your roof. A Duracell battery in your garage.

Two pieces of equipment, installed together and maintained for you. The panels make the power, the battery holds it, and together they run your home through peaks and outages.

Modern home at sunset with a full black solar array across the roof

12¢per kWh

Rooftop solarMakes your power through the day at a locked-in rate, with $0 upfront for equipment and install.
Aerial view of a brick home with rooftop solar and a Duracell battery system mounted on the garage wall

60 kWhDuracell battery

A power plant in your homeStores what your panels make, keeps your lights on in an outage, and earns from the grid at peak.

How a virtual power plant works

One day in the life of your battery.

Scroll through a day. The live diagram shows where your power comes from and where it goes.

  1. 11:40 AM

    The sun fills your battery.

    Panels on your roof make power through the day. Your home uses solar first, and the extra energy charges a 60 kWh Duracell battery in the garage.

    11:40 AMCharging from sun
    Sun
    Panels
    88%
    60 kWh
    Home
    Grid
  2. 7:15 PM

    Your evenings run on sunlight.

    When the sun goes down, the battery takes over. You use the energy you stored at the same 12¢/kWh, and you are less exposed to utility rate swings.

    7:15 PMHome on stored sun
    Night
    Panels
    64%
    60 kWh
    Home
    Grid
  3. 5:30 PM · July

    The grid calls. The fleet answers.

    On a hot afternoon, software coordinates thousands of home batteries to send power out together, like a power plant made of houses. That grid-services revenue helps pay for your equipment.

    5:30 PM · JulyGrid event · VPP dispatch
    Sun
    Panels
    52%
    60 kWh
    Home
    Grid · peak
  4. 2:05 AM · Storm

    The block goes dark. You don’t.

    When the grid fails, your home disconnects from it and runs on the battery. The fridge stays cold, the sump pump keeps running and the lights stay on.

    2:05 AM · StormGrid down · Backup on
    Night
    Panels
    71%
    60 kWh
    Home
    Grid down

The Illinois offer

Every term on one page.

No teaser rates and no fine print. SOLRITE owns and services the system. You buy the solar energy it produces at a set price.

Apply these terms to my bill
Upfront cost
$0
Equipment and installation
Solar energy price
12¢ / kWh
You pay for the power, not the panels
Home battery
60 kWh
Duracell battery storage
Backup power
Included
Keeps your home running when the grid goes down
Maintenance, monitoring & repairs
Included
Handled for the life of the agreement
Equipment ownership
SOLRITE
Nothing to buy, finance or insure
Agreement term
25 years
As reported in independent launch coverage
Annual price escalator
2.9%
As reported in independent launch coverage
Service territory
Ameren Illinois
Homeowners who qualify

A real proposal, walked through

This is what one Quincy home got.

Plays on its own. Tap a chapter to jump ahead.

Mark · Quincy, IL · Ameren Illinois
Aerial view of a home with 30 solar panels on its roof
30 panels · 12.3 kW

132%

of the home’s yearly usage, made on its own roof

Est. production, year 112,830 kWh
Current usage, per year9,739 kWh
Panels
30 × AMPS-410P-54BB
Inverter
Duracell Power Center D600-M2A
Battery
Duracell Max Hybrid 60 kWh
25-year production
302,209 kWh

Your proposal

Move the slider and watch your 25 years update.

Your utilityAmeren Illinois
$210
4.0%

Your solar price rises 2.9% per year. Pick what you expect from your utility.

Illustrative estimate. It assumes an all-in rate of about 26¢/kWh for Ameren Illinois and that solar covers your current usage. Your Living Brite advisor will prepare an exact proposal from your real bills and your roof.

Living Brite · Preliminary proposalAmeren Illinois · ~9,692 kWh/yr
Year 1 solar, per month
$0
Year 1 savings, per month
$0
Est. 25-year savings
$0
Utility SOLRITE solar
Year 25: $538/mo vs $192/mo
Year 1Year 25
Lock in my real numbers

$450+ / month

Whoa, that's a high bill!

Would you like to request a proposal now?

Stop overpaying

Why this matters now

You’ve seen the system. Here’s why the grid wants it.

Illinois is adding demand faster than it is adding power plants. Home batteries are one of the fastest ways to close the gap, which is why the incentives are so large.

Why this is happening now

“We can improve the grid. The problem is time and money. Demand is growing faster than we can upgrade the infrastructure to support it.”

A single large data center campus can draw about

0 GW

That is roughly the power used by a metro area of 0 people, and it can come online much faster than the grid can grow to support it.

New electricity demandcomes online quickly
Grid infrastructureplanned, approved, financed, built

This mismatch is the problem. Even with billions going into the grid, new demand is growing faster than transmission lines, substations, transformers and power plants can be added.

Seven years that changed the conversation in Illinois

  1. 2019

    Illinois invites data centers

    The Data Center Investment Program offers major state and local tax exemptions to projects that commit at least $250 million.

  2. 2024

    The state goes all in on compute

    $500 million over five years goes to infrastructure and R&D at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago’s South Side.

  3. 2026

    The incentives are paused

    Starting July 1, Governor Pritzker stops new incentive applications, citing concerns about affordability, grid reliability, water and local communities. New data centers are still allowed. The state has only stopped offering this incentive to new projects.

Adding power plants takes years. Plenty of power can be stored on roofs and in garages today. A virtual power plant turns thousands of homes into a fast, flexible resource the grid can call on right away.

Data centers in Illinois

The queue is bigger than the grid

Illinois already runs about 1.9 GW of data centers. Developers have now asked for nearly 29 GW more, north and downstate. Every one of them plugs into the same grid your home depends on, and that grid is already short.

Illinois data centers operating today1.9 GW · Installed, 2025
Capacity under construction2 GW · Being built now
New data center power requested across Illinois29 GW · 75+ projects statewide

The power being requested is about 15 times what Illinois data centers use today, and it all draws on the same interconnected grid.

Already operating

  • Meta · DeKalbabout 250 MW reported
  • CyrusOne · Aurora114 MW IT capacity
  • QTS · ChicagoOperating campus
  • Microsoft · Northwest suburbsOperating region

Coming in the next five years

  • Compass Datacenters · Hoffman Estatesabout 500 MW planned
  • Microsoft · Elk Grove VillageUnder construction
  • Utility queues · Statewide28,000+ MW requested
  • Downstate projects · Central and southern IL850 MW signed

The Illinois power grid

Spare power is running out

Illinois is wired into one interconnected grid that shares power across utility and state lines. Its spare capacity has dropped below the safety target for the first time. If the grid keeps adding supply at today's pace, we estimate it reaches the failure zone around 2030, and every Illinois home shares that risk.

Actual (regional capacity auctions) Estimate: grid does not change Estimate: adds flexible capacity like VPPs
Estimated failure zone: rolling outages likely on an extreme peak day0%5%10%15%20%25%20% target, 1-day-in-10-years reliabilityForecast6.6% by 2030/3111.7%14.9%17/1819/2021/2223/2425/2627/2829/3030/31

Reserve margin is how much spare power the grid has above its hottest-day demand. Actual values: 2027/2028 regional capacity auction report, total reserve margin. The two forecast lines are our estimate: demand rises about 6 GW a year (the grid operator's forecast of +32 GW by 2030), while new supply keeps the recent pace of about 2 GW a year. The flexible-capacity line adds another 3 GW a year of batteries, demand response and VPPs. The 7% failure point is an estimate of where normal plant outages on a hot peak day can use up all spare power.

  • 6,517 MWshort of the safety target for 2027/28, the first time a regional auction has missed it
  • 774 MWof new generation cleared in that auction, against 5,250 MW of new forecast demand
  • 10×+jump in capacity prices across Illinois in two years. Those costs flow straight into home bills.
  • 2030Illinois law (CEJA) requires remaining privately owned coal plants to close, shrinking supply further

When the grid gets tight, every home pays more and faces the same risk of rolling outages on the hottest and coldest days. Power plants and transmission lines take years to build. Home batteries tied into a virtual power plant can be added in weeks, which is why Illinois utilities now pay homeowners to join one.

Sources

What California learned the hard way

The grid rarely fails at noon. It fails right after sunset.

In 2020, California had plenty of solar power during the day and not enough at 7 PM. Illinois runs on a different grid with its own warning signs. Batteries charged by rooftop solar address both problems.

One hot summer day on the grid

The sun sets before demand does

6 AMNoon6 PM
Electricity demand Power plants plus solarNot enough supplyIllustrative shape, not to scale.

California · what happened

  1. Aug 2020

    The lights go out

    During a West-wide heat wave, the California grid operator orders its first rotating outages since 2001. Regulators later found that planning had not kept up with the early evening hours, after solar fades but while air conditioners are still running.

  2. 2020–2022

    California builds batteries fast

    The state adds more than 3,100 MW of battery storage in two years and pays homes and businesses to cut use or discharge batteries when the grid asks.

  3. Sept 2022

    A bigger heat wave, no rolling blackouts

    Demand sets an all-time record. Batteries and demand response help close the evening gap, and rotating outages are avoided.

Illinois · what’s building

  1. 2022

    Our region comes up short

    In MISO, the grid that serves Ameren Illinois, the 2022–23 capacity auction shows a 1,230 MW shortfall in its North and Central zones. Prices hit the $236.66/MW-day ceiling.

  2. Dec 2022

    Winter Storm Elliott

    MISO warns it could have to cut power to as much as 5 GW of demand. It avoids ordering outages, but with little room to spare.

  3. 2025–26

    Warnings get louder

    NERC rates MISO at elevated risk of shortfalls as coal and gas plants retire. The 2026–27 summer capacity price in Ameren’s zone clears at $424.30/MW-day.

Why Illinois pays you to have a battery

A new power plant takes years to permit and build. Batteries already sitting in thousands of garages can respond the same afternoon. That is why the incentives in Illinois now focus on storage you let the grid use when it needs it.

  • Ameren Illinois$300per kWh of battery

    Storage rebate for batteries paired with solar and a smart inverter.

  • Ameren VPP tariff$10per kW, each summer

    Paid for what the battery delivers on weekdays from 4 to 6 PM, June through September. This program comes from Illinois’ new grid law, Public Act 104-0458.

  • Illinois Shines$70.37per REC, small systems

    The state buys the renewable credits your solar produces. This is the 2026–27 base price for small systems in Ameren territory.

  • Federal · Section 48E2027placed-in-service deadline

    Available for leased and PPA systems. The homeowner tax credit (25D) ended Dec 31, 2025.

Sources

Program amounts can change. We confirm current rebate, REC and tariff terms in your written proposal.

Straight answers.

How can it really be $0 upfront?

SOLRITE owns the equipment and earns money when the aggregated batteries provide services to the grid. That revenue, plus the energy you buy at 12¢/kWh, pays for the system, so you do not buy the panels or the battery.

What is a Virtual Power Plant?

It is software that coordinates hundreds or thousands of home batteries so they can act together like one power plant. When the grid is under strain, the fleet can help support it.

Will I have power during an outage?

Yes. Battery backup is part of the offer. When the grid goes down, your home can run on the 60 kWh Duracell battery.

Who handles maintenance and repairs?

SOLRITE does. Monitoring, maintenance and repairs are included because SOLRITE owns the system.

How does my price change over time?

Solar starts at 12¢/kWh. Independent coverage of the launch reports a 25-year agreement with a 2.9% annual escalator. Your advisor will go through the exact terms in your agreement.

Do I qualify?

The program is for qualifying homeowners in Ameren Illinois territory. Your roof, your usage and other factors decide eligibility. A Living Brite advisor can confirm quickly.

Four fields. Then we build your exact proposal.

A Living Brite advisor looks at your roof and your usage and sends you a proposal made for your home. There is no obligation and no cost.