Illinois State Senator Bill Cunningham and Representative Marcus Evans have introduced a bill aimed at reducing energy bills in the state and setting a 15GW energy storage deployment target.
House Bill 3758 (HB3758) has been read into the record for the first time and referred to the assignments committee, early in the process of becoming a law in Illinois.
The bill will have to be assigned to a substantive committee where it will be voted on, read into the record for a second time, read into the record for a third time, and voted on to be sent to the second house. In the second house it will go through a similar voting process before being sent to governor JB Pritzker, who can veto, veto with amendments or sign the bill into law.
It’s worth noting that the bill could be stalled at several points in the process for further amendments and refusal to agree with the amendments made.
HB3758 also shares many similarities with Senate Bill 3997 (SB3997) introduced by Cunningham in January.
HB3758 aims to reduce customers’ energy bills and set a 15GW energy storage deployment target in the state by making amendments to pre-existing acts and programmes. Similar to SB3997, the bill amends the Illinois Power Agency Act.
The original purpose of the Power Agency Act is to expand the state’s renewable portfolio standard and strengthen the diversity, equity and labour standards associated with the growth.
HB3758 “Authorises the Illinois Power Agency to conduct competitive solicitations to procure contracted energy storage credits sufficient to achieve certain energy storage standards; to request, review, and accept proposals; to execute contracts; and to procure energy storage credits.”
Additionally, the bill requires the agency to develop a storage procurement plan and authorises it to develop and implement a firm energy resource plan.
The bill most heavily amends The Public Utilities Act. The original purpose of The Public Utilities Act is to ensure cost-effective, environmentally safe public utilities for state residents.
HB3758 “Requires each electric utility to demonstrate sufficient resources devoted to interconnection. Requires the Illinois Commerce Commission to perform specified actions regarding interconnection within 90 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act.”
Additionally, the Bill “…In a provision regarding virtual power plant (VPP) programmes, requires each electric utility serving more than 300,000 customers as of January 1, 2023 to propose an initial tariff within 60 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. In a provision regarding peak remediation programs, requires each electric utility serving more than 300,000 retail customers as of January 1, 2023 to propose an initial tariff within 90 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act.”
VPPs are networks of small-scale, distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar panels or batteries (and in some instances batteries in vehicles), which can together function as a single power plant, providing stability to the electric grid.
The bill continues with requirements to establish a working group with relevant stakeholders to develop a standalone energy storage deployment programme, requires an office of interconnection and renewable development and further outlines details of recovering tariffed charges through the purchase of energy storage credits.
In September 2023, China-headquartered lithium-ion battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech announced a US$2 billion gigafactory in Illinois. Governor Pritzker was enthusiastic about the factory and taking further steps to welcome battery manufacturing in the state.
