ILLINOIS – Yesterday, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), Illinois Power Agency (IPA), and Illinois EPA released the Resource Adequacy Study report, which projects Illinois and the region will need additional power supply resources to come online by 2030 to address adequacy shortfalls driven in large part by the increase in electricity demand from energy-intensive data centers. The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (ICJC) released the following statement in response:
“While the results of the Resource Adequacy Study report show challenges ahead, we foresaw these trends emerging and are thankful the Illinois legislature took the first of two necessary actions to address these challenges by passing the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act this fall. Illinois will begin completing an Integrated Resource plan next year – a critical energy planning tool that will help the state develop a responsible energy plan to meet these challenges with new, cost-effective clean energy.
“The next critical step is to pass commonsense guardrails for data centers – the primary driver of the unprecedented energy demand that is saddling Illinois consumers with rising utility bills while dirty energy companies make record profits. ICJC looks forward to working with legislative leaders and stakeholders in the spring legislative session to ensure data center developers, not Illinois consumers, pay for the disproportionate energy burden big tech is bringing to our power grid and keep in line with Illinois’ national leadership on climate by powering these facilities with clean energy.”
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