SOLRITE Energy Expands to Illinois, Bringing Massive Home Batteries and Virtual Power Plant Technology to ComEd and Ameren Customers

As Illinois electricity costs climb and net metering ends, SOLRITE’s residential energy program offers home solar and 60 kWh batteries for 12 cents per kWh and $0 down, turning thousands of households into grid-supporting infrastructure

CHICAGO and FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SOLRITE Energy, a company that finances, builds, and owns residential Virtual Power Plant Power Purchase Agreement (VPA) projects, announced the launch of its solar-plus-storage program in Illinois. The offering is available today to qualifying homeowners across both ComEd and Ameren Illinois service territories through partnerships with experienced local distributors and installers.

Under the program, Illinois homes receive a complete solar system paired with a 60 kWh whole-home battery, roughly four times the capacity of a typical home battery, for a solar rate of 12 cents per kWh with no upfront cost and nothing to maintain. SOLRITE takes a different approach from traditional residential solar sales models by financing, owning, and operating the entire system for the full 25-year term, carrying the equipment and performance risk so homeowners do not have to.

This expansion marks the fifth state where SOLRITE has deployed its battery-first Virtual Power Plant (VPP) model, building on the company’s success in Texas, California, Connecticut and Massachusetts. By networking residential batteries into a single dispatchable energy resource, VPPs provide utilities with flexible capacity to use during periods of peak demand while allowing homeowners to maximize the value of the solar energy they generate. The end result is a network of participating homes that actively respond to real-time energy demands and help reduce reliance on polluting peaker plants.

The Illinois launch lands at a moment of acute strain in the Illinois residential energy market. Ameren Illinois residential supply rates have climbed sharply, driven by capacity prices in the regional power market that flow straight through to customers. At the same time, full retail net metering ended for new Illinois solar customers on January 1, 2025, eroding the economics of solar-only systems. SOLRITE's model is built for exactly this environment: instead of exporting excess solar for a shrinking credit, the 60 kWh battery stores it, then dispatches it to the home and the grid when it is worth the most.

"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 Regan George, CEO and Founder of SOLRITE Energy. "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. It is a genuine win for the homeowner, for the grid, and for the investors backing this infrastructure."

Built for post-2025 Illinois

The Illinois program is designed around the state's current policy landscape. Federal clean-energy tax credits and Illinois Shines renewable energy credits accrue to SOLRITE as the system owner, and that incentive value is what allows the company to place a 60 kWh battery system in a home with zero dollars down at a low, predictable solar rate. Homes in federally designated energy communities carry additional value, though SOLRITE's model now qualifies homeowners statewide rather than limiting availability to those areas.

For homeowners, the benefits are immediate and concrete: a 12 cents per kWh solar rate that typically sits below what they pay their utility today, an annual price adjustment capped at 2.9 percent, regardless of how far retail rates rise, and whole days of backup for essential loads during an outage with no generator, no fuel, and no noise. Installation is handled by Illinois-licensed installers, and there is no equipment for the homeowner to buy, insure, or maintain.

SOLRITE's entry follows a broader migration of capital and attention toward distributed energy resources as a hedge against rising rates, grid stress, and surging electricity demand. By pairing a large battery with every system and retaining ownership of the asset, SOLRITE is positioning its Illinois fleet as long-duration, contracted infrastructure rather than a string of one-off solar sales.

Batteries for homes that already went solar

The program is not limited to new solar customers. Illinois homeowners who already have panels on their roof, including the many systems installed without storage while full retail net metering was still available, can add a 60 kWh battery to their existing system under the same ownership model: no upfront cost, no equipment to buy, and nothing to maintain.

The battery captures the excess solar the grid no longer credits at full retail value, delivers days of backup power for essential loads, and enrolls the home in SOLRITE's VPP fleet. For households whose solar-only economics changed when net metering ended, adding storage restores the value of the energy their panels already produce. Availability is subject to a compatibility review of the existing system.

Distributed batteries as grid infrastructure

SOLRITE's thesis is that thousands of large, networked home batteries add up to dispatchable grid capacity that can be operated at utility scale. The battery platform at the center of each installation was engineered from the start for VPP participation and is built on technology that has been performing advanced grid services in Europe for more than a decade. Beyond simple backup, the platform can hold solar on-site, shave household peaks, and charge and discharge in response to grid conditions in as little as 30 seconds, providing a stack of grid services rather than a single function.

As the Illinois fleet grows, each additional home expands the capacity of SOLRITE's VPP, creating a distributed energy resource designed to help meet rising electricity demand while giving homeowners greater energy resilience, lower energy costs, and the satisfaction of contributing to a cleaner energy future.

About SOLRITE Energy
SOLRITE Energy finances, builds, and owns residential Virtual Power Plant Power Purchase Agreement (VPA) projects, delivering clean, reliable, and affordable energy to homeowners at no upfront cost. By owning and operating large home batteries as a networked fleet, SOLRITE provides homeowners with predictable energy costs and resilient backup power while supplying dispatchable capacity that strengthens the grid. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, SOLRITE operates in Texas, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Illinois, and is expanding to additional markets. Learn more at solriteenergy.com.

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