SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — State lawmakers return to Springfield for veto session in less than two weeks with a massive energy proposal near the top of their agenda.
Democrats and Republicans know they need to act quickly to add more energy options to the grid, but the task has become harder with federal cuts to wind and solar tax credits.
Advocates say President Donald Trump's budget bill put the renewable energy community on the clock. Tax credit eligibility is now determined based on when a project is placed in service instead of when a project begins construction.
Lawmakers could modernize the Illinois Commerce Commission's working group to have more power in making decisions related to interconnection.
"It creates an official ombudsperson role to facilitate the interconnection working group and help resolve informal disputes between utilities and interconnecting customers," said Sarah Wochos from New Leaf Energy. "It provides a clearer path for moving forward with policy changes even without 100% consensus, and it outlines a number of specific issues that need to be addressed by specific timelines."
Some believe thermal energy networks should be included in the energy omnibus plan. These networks use water filled pipes and geothermal heat pumps to heat and cool neighborhoods.
Experts told the Senate Public Utilities Committee Thursday this technology is six times more efficient than a gas furnace and more than twice as efficient as a standard heat pump.
"They remove dependence on volatile fossil fuel sources, they do not emit pollution, and they can keep pipeline workers and families sustaining jobs," said Yami Newell from the Building Decarbonization Coalition.
Newell argued Illinois should allow utilities to pilot these networks and finance them through the state's climate bank. Eight states have passed laws allowing or mandating utilities implement local thermal energy.
However, geothermal energy companies said the current bill language contains no policies that could accelerate deployment of heating and cooling technology in the next decade.
"We feel this is a lost opportunity to address the affordability crisis that is facing our state," said Derek Dwyer of Enertech Global. "Supporting geothermal means supporting Illinois manufacturing, construction, and installation jobs. It means relieving critical capacity and transmission bottlenecks and lowering electric rates for working families."
Lawmakers also hope to lift the state's nuclear moratorium and invest in energy storage batteries through this legislation. Negotiations are expected to continue throughout the entire month.
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