Frequently Asked Questions

The Illinois Clean Energy Dashboard (Dashboard website) is a data website designed by the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) to convey the story of renewable energy development through data visualizations.

Through static visualizations, the Dashboard website tracks the progress of renewable energy development in Illinois. As the Agency responsible for the implementation of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in Illinois, the IPA has developed the Dashboard website to illustrate and quantify the state’s renewable energy growth. This project hopes to bolster public understanding of how the IPA’s renewable energy programs and procurements support that growth.

Lastly, the Agency hopes to empower government leaders and policymakers with the data and insights they need to make effective policy decisions to enable an equitable clean energy future for all Illinoisans.

The Dashboard website is geared toward policymakers, clean energy advocates, renewable development companies, the general public, research institutions, and the media. The IPA welcomes all visitors!

The IPA aims to update the data on the Dashboard website every month except for data from Electricity Generation Mix and Midwest Solar and Wind Capacity dataset categories. Each visualization on the website includes information on the source of the data and a timestamp to indicate the date of the latest update, ensuring transparency and visibility.

The Dashboard website is part of the public domain and visitors may use and/or download data for non-commercial use. The data sourced from, or directly collected by the IPA is available for download on the Download Data page of the website. That does not include any personally identifiable data or data that was collected on a confidential basis by the Agency. The IPA also uses external data sources for certain visualizations. That data is not available for download. The Download Data page provides links to the external sources of that data. The IPA recommends that visitors also provide links to original data sources when using visualizations that draw from external data. Please visit the Download Data page for more information.

Yes, visitors can use visualizations from the Dashboard website for non-commercial use such as educational presentations, whitepapers, policy documents, articles, webinars, etc. The Agency requires visitors to cite the Illinois Power Agency and the last updated date for each visualization used. Please visit the Download Data page for more information.

Data on the Dashboard website is a snapshot in time, and information can change. For example, a project listed as “under development” will either get completed and subsequently listed as “energized,” or the project might get cancelled and subsequently removed.

Data from different sources may have been collected at different times and thus may not be comparable. While data from IPA-administered programs and procurements has been reviewed by the applicable administrator, data entry errors can occur, project sizes can change, and other factors could lead to future corrections and updates of data. 

Some datasets are small and, thus, trends in those datasets may not be statistically significant.

The Dashboard website relies on data provided by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Service, and two Renewable Energy Credit tracking systems, the Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS), and the Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System. While those providers have robust internal control systems, the IPA cannot independently verify the accuracy of data provided by them.

Requests for data corrections or updates can be sent using the Dashboard website’s Contact Us form.

Visitors can stay up to date on new visualizations and new data releases by visiting the Updates page on the Dashboard website.

Phase I of the Dashboard website is accessible through desktop and mobile devices.

Yes, interactive dashboards are currently being built. In the meantime, the Agency has provided static visualizations for stakeholder consumption as part of Phase I.

The IPA welcomes feedback and insights. Questions or feedback can be submitted using the Dashboard website’s Contact Us form.

The IPA welcomes feedback and ideas from stakeholders and visitors to the Dashboard website. Feedback can be provided using the Dashboard website’s Contact Us form.