Peter Schwartzman: Push for bold action to prepare clean energy grid
With a record heatwave and more to come, downstate Illinois residents are bracing for higher electric bills this summer after a tough winter of high natural gas bills. And that’s being made even more painful with inflation and gasoline prices rising.
The immediate needs are clear: helping lower-income households access bill assistance and other resources to provide relief starting this month. But long term, with Illinois officials holding meetings on the issue in the coming weeks, we need clarity on what this is really all about.
Some are misleadingly portraying electricity capacity price increases as a consequence of transitioning “too fast” from fossil fuels to clean energy. In fact, we haven’t moved fast enough.
Solar and wind are hands-down the lowest-cost power sources. The more power they provide, the cheaper our energy costs. A massive reservoir of these projects is waiting right now for authorization to connect to the regional power grid run by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, so they can proceed with construction.
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How many projects? We’re talking 120 gigawatts of solar, wind and battery storage across MISO’s 15-state region, including 15 gigawatts right here in Illinois. Regionwide, this is enough to power every household in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. It would create a half million jobs, more than 60,000 just in Illinois.
Imagine these projects connected by a regional transmission grid with the capability to transfer electricity across long distances to overcome local variability. This would ensure lowest-cost generation, as well as reliability and resiliency in the face of weather extremes and renewable resource variability. This is the electricity system we need, but it isn’t yet in place.
What’s the hitch? Imagine trying to run today’s internet on lines built for the telegraph. There’s a monumental mismatch.
The electricity grid was built for a time when power came from centralized power plants. But a grid for wind, solar and batteries needs to serve new geographies. It needs to move power long distances, to ensure reliability amid numerous variable resources.
The last time MISO moved forward with a package of regional grid upgrades to ready our system for a clean energy era was over a decade ago. Those lines were helpful and saved customers far more than they cost. Now MISO is preparing a second portfolio of grid projects. That’s helpful too.
But let’s be clear: one set of regional grid upgrades a decade is not enough. That created the situation we face today: expensive coal retiring, natural gas at its most expensive since 2008, and the lowest-cost sources — solar, wind and storage —stuck waiting to get to the construction phase.
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In the last five years, 500 solar, wind and hybrid projects on the waiting list at MISO have withdrawn. In many cases, developers say, the grid simply couldn’t accommodate them.
There’s ample blame to go around. Some utilities balk at a grid designed to generate power from sources they don’t profit from, wielding their influence to slow-walk upgrades at MISO. But MISO itself could also show more backbone in the face of special interests. And we should recognize that many of us in local and state leadership have not done enough.
Illinois' recent energy legislation made significant investments in solar and storage, including at the sites of the Baldwin, Duck Creek, and other coal plants, to increase reliability, jobs, and local revenue.
It is time to build on those successes. As Illinois officials dive in deeper in the coming weeks and months, all Illinoisans will be well-served if we combine our voices in the strongest possible push for bold action to prepare our grid for the clean energy era. It can’t come too soon.
Dr. Peter Schwartzman, mayor of Galesburg, IL; Professor of Environmental Studies, Knox College; co-author of the book "The Earth Is Not for Sale."
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Peter Schwartzman: Push for bold action to prepare clean energy grid
