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Coal-fired power plants are going offline or are set to be
decommissioned in the future and with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plans for
more electric vehicles on Illinois roads, there are concerns about a
lack of available energy.
State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, who has introduced Senate
Bill 1587, said not enough attention is being paid to energy
storage.
“The essence of the bill is that it would require the Illinois Power
Agency to facilitate the procurement of energy storage credits in
order to promote storage,” Cunningham said.
The U.S. electrical grid was designed to deliver electricity to
consumers immediately, with very little energy stored.
Storage technology includes batteries and other grid-connected
systems that can store energy and then dispatch it for 10 hours or
longer when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.
Co-sponsor of the bill, State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, said he
is not in favor of property tax breaks for these companies,
especially after some Illinois power plants shut down.
“In downstate communities, these are the largest taxing industries
in that county usually, and so the schools and government agencies
that depend on that really need to have this as a replacement,”
Koehler said.
SB1587 remains in committee.
State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said she wants to avoid a
similar situation in which Illinoisans' power bills doubled this
past year.
"So people who had a $400 electric bill previously are paying $800,
and that’s individual and that doesn't count the businesses, so
moving forward, that has to be part of this conversation,” Bryant
said.
In a recent technology assessment, the Government Accountability
Office said there are many challenges to adopting the technology,
including planning and valuation. The GAO said one approach that
state policymakers could take is to create incentives for storage
deployment, such as loan guarantees, and consider policies to
encourage the capture of multiple revenue streams.
Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in Illinois
for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of experience in radio
news reporting throughout the Midwest.
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