Illinois State Senator Bill Cunningham has passed legislation to accelerate energy storage in the Midwest US state.
Senate Bill 3997 (SB3997) has been read into the record for the first time and assigned to the assignments committee, early in the process of becoming a law in Illinois.
Outlined in greater detail in the table below, the bill aims to boost energy storage in the state by making amendments to pre-existing acts and programmes. The amendments largely focus on making it easier for energy storage projects to be developed, through various incentives and regulatory measures.
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 by the full chamber, before being sent to governor JB Pritzker, who can veto, veto with amendments or sign the bill into law.
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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.
SB3997 amends the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act, Power Agency Act, Solar for All Program, Public Utilities Act and Prevailing Wage Act.
| Act/Program | Original Purpose | Amendment under SB3997 |
| Illinois Enterprise Zone Act | Stimulate business and neighbourhood revitalisation of depressed areas through relaxed government control and tax incentives. | Designates businesses that intend to construct a battery energy storage facility in certain locations as ‘High Impact Businesses’. |
| Power Agency Act | Expands the state’s renewable portfolio standard and strengthens the diversity, equity and labour standards associated with the growth. | Requires the Illinois Power Agency to develop plans for procuring energy storage. Authorises renewable energy credit procurement from repowered wind projects and retooled hydropower facilities to be included in long-term renewable resource procurement plans. |
| Solar for All Program | Makes solar energy more affordable for low-income Illinois residents. | Directs the median income to be revised every year rather than every 5 years, to identify low-income households. |
| Public Utilities Act | Ensures cost-effective, environmentally safe public utilities for state residents. | Makes changes concerning energy efficiency and demand-response measures and distributed generation rebates. Makes changes concerning inverters. |
| Prevailing Wage Act | Requires contractors and subcontractors to pay workers employed on public works construction projects at least the general prevailing pay-rate in the county where the work is bring done. | Provides that the term ‘public works’ includes battery energy storage facilities or high voltage direct current converter stations by a business designated as ‘High Impact’. |
In September 2023, China-headquartered lithium-ion battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech announced a US$2 billion gigafactory in Illinois. Governor Prizker was enthusiastic about the factory and taking further steps to welcome battery manufacturing in the state.
Energy-Storage.news also reported on a study for US environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) by Alabama-based advisory firm Astrape Consulting, which said Illinois can address its resource adequacy shortfall by replacing its fossil fuel plants with 2,972MW of energy storage (Premium access article), without significant transmission upgrades.
The Midwest US has also seen interest from Denmark-based IPP Ørsted, who partnered with Mission Clean Energy to develop and build 1GW of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the Central and North regions of the Midcontinent Independent System Operation (MISO), which covers Illinois.
