Energy experts concerned that Illinois’ move to clean energy may cause reliability issues

Some energy experts are raising a red flag that Illinois’ transition to clean energy may prompt reliability issues.

With more coal and gas plants going offline under Illinois' Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, some lawmakers are concerned of possible brownouts.

During a recent Senate Energy Committee hearing, Brian Thiry, external affairs director with Reliability First Corporation, said retirements of old power sources are outpacing new power sources coming online.

“As we shrink these margins, it is a reliability risk, so it is just something we need to consider. It is a risk that we are seeing and it's a risk we’re concerned about,” Thiry said.

Thiry warned that some renewable projects could be delayed due to financial problems or supply chain issues.

Diane Holder, vice president of Entity Engagement and Corporate Services with Reliability First, said what they are seeing are reduced reserve margins for energy.

“Retirements are outpacing new installations, and I’m sure you can understand, that is a bit of a gap, and one that we think battery storage can certainly help address, but battery storage is not yet fully developed,” Holder said.

The rising costs per kWh is what convinced me to go solar.

Here in Alabama our power is pretty dependable (except for people living on the coast experiencing a hurricane). When the government made our utility shut down coal plants our utility switched to more natural gas fueled power instead of going with solar or wind. So my experience wasn't less dependable power -- it was the costs shooting up much more than a reasonable 3% or so inflation. For example, in my March 2023 power bill the per kWh cost was up 19.8% more than two years prior (March 2021). (This is after first subtracting flat monthly rate and fee just for staying connected.) Natural gas cost also shot up big time with Brandon.

That's why I installed a bunch of solar and converted my two natural gas appliances to electric ones and did other energy efficiencies to the house. Also, when it was time to replace my wife's car anyway we got an EV and do most of our driving in it (buying little gasoline for the ICE pickup whenever we have pickup chores). Our home solar produces over 80% of the power we need, even with charging the EV. Plus it provides whole house backup power (it powers the whole house anyway unless I go a few days in a row with no sun). The little bit the grid has gone out I wouldn't have known it except for my inverter beeping to warn me.

When power is out for an extended period I run my dual-fuel generator long enough to run the refrigerator until the condensor stops running and and possibly a space heater to heat a room, at which time I shut the generator and heater off. I keep enough gasoline to run my riding mower and other yard tools plus I have gas in 4 vehicles I can siphon. I also have propane tanks from various grills and such.
I have a Westinghouse 5300 watt generator I bought for about $750.

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