Less than two weeks after J. B. Pritzker was inaugurated as Illinois’ 43rd governor, he guided a review to be conducted by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) on the enhanced efficiency of the use of state funds for workforce training. The DCEO has 90 days for this project. Pritzker said:
“It is critical that state resources are being used to meet the demands of the 21st Century,”
The idea is to offer new businesses capital, technical support and mentorship. To date, 1871 – the nonprofit Business Incubator that Pritzker helped establish in 2012 – has already generated approximately 7,000 jobs as well as 400+ digital startups which are now in place in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart.
And then there is the Illinois solar revolution that is taking place throughout various parts of the state’s open land. Various communities are getting on board to use solar power in an effort to meet renewable energy goals. One example of this is Aurora which is seeking to turn half of all energy to renewable within the next decade. Will County’s Energy and Conservation Specialist, Sam Bluemer has described what is happening as “an energy revolution.”
The initiator for this was the 2017 Future Energy Jobs Act which was established – and has successfully – set up new solar programs and incentives. One of these is the lottery whereby developers can apply in January for renewable energy credits often needed for viability of the projects and can be used for:
- Residential/commercial installations
- large, utility-scale solar arrays
- small-scale solar projects known as community solar.
Keep posted for more exciting developments in 2019 in Illinois.