With clean energy under siege in Congress and in the Oval Office, supporters continue to press forward in Illinois.
Lawmakers have introduced the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, with an ambitious new goal for large-scale energy storage, in which giant batteries absorb wind and solar energy when it’s not needed, and release it when it is.
The bill makes it easier to construct high-voltage transmission lines, which bring the cleanest, lowest-cost energy to consumers.
There are also measures promoting energy efficiency, addressing electricity-guzzling data centers and establishing virtual power plants — networks of homes with EVs, solar panels and batteries that, working in tandem, can produce large amounts of energy and save customers money.
“Trump has made it clear he plans to roll back federal funding and programs that support clean energy progress,” Democratic state Rep. Ann Williams of Chicago, a sponsor of the bill, said at a news conference Tuesday.
“This is of great concern to all of us in Illinois, but we are not going back. Illinois can and will continue to lead on climate policy,” she said.
President Donald Trump’s efforts to block funding for solar and wind energy and electric vehicles have hit Illinois hard in recent weeks, with environmentalists reporting chaos and confusion.
But there’s also a sense of pride in the state’s sweeping 2021 law, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, and a determination to meet new challenges.
“Our power grid is struggling to keep up with a surge in demand for energy, largely caused by new data centers,” Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition lobbyist Kady McFadden said at the news conference.
McFadden also pointed to the long waits for new solar and wind farms to get permission to connect to the grid from multistate grid operators.
“As a result, Illinois electric customers are increasingly threatened with unexpected price spikes, our power grid may struggle to maintain reliability, and (as) extreme weather intensifies, Illinois climate progress is at risk,” McFadden said.
Wind and solar in limbo: Long waitlists to get on the grid are a ‘leading barrier’
Sarah Moskowitz, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, projects the average ComEd customer bill is going to increase by about $10.50 per month this June due to shortcomings in the regional electric transmission and capacity policy, which is managed by the multistate grid operator PJM Interconnection.
Capacity charges make up roughly 20% of electric supply cost and are one factor contributing to Illinois residents’ electricity bills, according to Brian McDaniel, director of government affairs at the Citizens Utility Board.
A key aspect of the Reliable Grid Affordability Act is energy storage, which can reduce costs and smooth out peaks in demand.
“(Energy storage) is very flexible and also responsive,” said James Gignac, Union of Concerned Scientists midwest policy director. “And also it allows us to use more of the low-cost clean electricity that wind and solar generate, because without storage, electricity on the grid needs to be continuously consumed.”
U.S. battery storage had a record year in 2024, with 10.3 gigawatts of new capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and the agency expects another record year in 2025.
To put that number in some perspective, 1 gigawatt of energy storage could power roughly 73,000 homes for a day, according to Solar Energy Industries Association Vice President of Markets and Research Justin Baca, who added that this isn’t typically the way batteries are used.
The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act sets an ambitious goal for energy storage in Illinois: 3 gigawatts by 2030.
That’s the amount that Illinois would need to achieve its climate goals in 2030 according to Gignac, who co-authored an analysis for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Another bill supported by the clean energy industry, including the Solar Energy Industries Association, sets an even higher goal: 15 gigawatts of storage.
Installing 15 gigawatts of energy storage would save Illinois consumers $2.4 billion between 2031 and 2049, according to a 2024 study by Mark Pruitt, former director of the Illinois Power Agency.
Legislative leaders have convened a series of working groups to bring together stakeholders and review different proposals, with the goal of passing a significant energy bill by the end of May.
Other measures in the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act include a requirement that the state’s two largest electric utilities, ComEd and Ameren, increase their energy efficiency goals.
The bill requires larger utilities to submit plans for virtual power plants for review, which is to be followed by “immediate implementation by the utility.”
The bill would also create an Office of Energy Modeling, which would create a public database of energy information for the state that could answer questions about the power grid, according to Gignac.
“Typically this type of energy system modeling is done by consultants who use proprietary models,” Gignac said. “Those are good models, but they’re expensive and opaque. It’s hard to determine what assumptions were made. We want this new Illinois state capability to be fully transparent.”
nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com
