SPRINGFIELD — A proposal to bring more power online in Illinois to meet high demand and potentially help curb rising electric bills was sent to Gov. JB Pritzker after state lawmakers passed the plan Thursday.
The measure is aimed at creating more power in Illinois as the state and the country face a rising demand for electricity from big data centers.
A major piece of the plan is the funding of giant battery storage, which aims to capture power during points of low demand, store it and release it when there is high demand.
Electric customers will foot the cost with future charges on their monthly utility bills. The giant batteries are especially key to capturing renewable wind and solar power that does not produce electricity around the clock. As coal plants, once the dominant source of electricity, retire they need to be replaced with new types of power, including renewables.
The output of the stored power from batteries can be significant, rivaling the energy produced by nuclear plants, according to proponents.
Across the state, electricity customers are getting walloped with higher bills because of the demand from huge new data centers, especially those focused on artificial intelligence.
Big businesses that use a lot of electricity fought the bill, saying they shouldn’t be on the hook for paying for the new sources of power. The Illinois Manufacturers Association and a group of businesses led by Caterpillar and other big energy users were among the opponents.
Republicans who roundly voted against the measure argued that costs are being passed on to customers.
“The only thing I’m seeing in this bill is guaranteed rate increases,” said state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Murrayville. “They’re going to continue to rise, and when this comes online, that’s when they’re going to add the additional cost of the battery storage that rate-payers are going to have to pay for.”
But the alternative is taxpayer-funded initiatives, proponents argue, adding that all power users will eventually benefit from more sources of energy.
“Some would say, ‘let’s do nothing, let’s put our head in the sand and act like everything’s going to be OK,” sponsoring state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, said before his chamber advanced the measure 70-37. “We will see the amount of our bills continue to escalate. We must act now.”
After heated debate, the state Senate gave the measure final approval 37-22 Thursday night.
Gaining the support of the Illinois AFL-CIO this week was a huge boost for the energy plan, which Chicago Democratic state Sen. Bill Cunningham called a basic matter of economics: “When you increase supply, prices will go down,” he said. “We’re trying to solve a problem here.”
More electricity is needed as Pritzker invites data centers to come to Illinois. State officials are in a race to attract tech investments that need a lot of power to operate. The governor hails the quantum computing campus being developed on the Southeast Side as a potentially blockbuster economic development project.
The bill is also a fix to Pritzker’s signature climate change program signed into law four years ago.
The law set ambitious goals for the state to end the use of fossil fuel sources, such as coal and natural gas, for electricity by 2050.
Those fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change while also producing air pollution that threatens human health.
But cleaner forms of energy, such as wind and solar power, have been slow to get up and running in Illinois and replace coal-fired plants. With rising demand, individuals have seen higher electric bills. That trend is expected to continue next year.
Advocates for the bill note that President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting federal programs that boost the use of renewable energy at a time when more electricity is needed.