The town of Ottawa lies in central Illinois 12 miles from a nuclear power plant and a wind turbine farm that stretches past the horizon. However, these facilities sit on the other side of an invisible boundary between two regional power grids.
By mutual agreement among utilities that own the grids and power plants, that nuclear plant and wind station sell much of their power to Chicago, Ohio and the East Coast. Ottawa gets most of its power from southern Illinois, western states and even the Canadian province of Manitoba, whose electricity may now be subject to a U.S. tariff.
The power Ottawa gets is also dirtier, less reliable and more expensive than that of its neighbors.
It’s a story being told across the state.
For now, the starting points of the bill are provisions the legislature tried and failed to complete before adjourning last year, said Jennifer Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council.
She said the first of these is battery storage, which is intended to help wind and solar connect to the PJM and MISO grids by capturing and then releasing their power in steady increments.
Walling said another pillar of the coming bill will be tougher requirements for utilities to cut demand. The state would help them do so by, among other things, providing incentives for customers to install insulated windows and heat pumps.
“Planning energy out more than 10 years was something Madigan opposed,” Walling said. “He always liked you to come back to the legislature every five or 10 years to negotiate again,” she said.
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