Illinois Can Meet All Its Power Needs by Replacing Retiring Fossil Fuels with Energy Storage

CHICAGO, IL - In 2022, Illinois’ grid operator PJM put forth a report raising concerns that the state’s landmark climate law, CEJA, threatened reliability of the power grid by accelerating the retirement of fossil fuel resources. A new study released today shows Illinois can meet all its power needs by plugging in energy storage in place of retiring fossil plants. 

The analysis found that replacing the retiring fossil plants with battery storage can serve as an alternative solution to avoid the need to import fossil power from other states by way of costly new transmission lines.  

“There are many solutions to maintain a reliable grid right at our fingertips, they just happen to be different than the solutions that fossil fuel plants and utilities are used to,” said Tom Rutigliano, senior advocate with the Sustainable FERC Project at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “We don’t need to reflexively turn back to gas or delay fossil fuel retirements to protect reliability. Battery storage can deliver huge benefits. The state and grid operator need to work together to make that common sense solution possible.” 

The study, developed by Astrapé Consulting, considered pathways for reliability focused on plugging in new resources that were not fully considered in the PJM report. As a result of excluding those pathways, PJM’s analysis showed that the region would need to pay $700 million in transmission upgrades by 2030.  

The findings of the new study reveal a much more cost-effective solution: by deploying as little as 3 GW of 4-hour battery storage, along with new energy expected to come online by 2030, Illinois can achieve the same reliability benefits. 

"Even with storage solutions available, Illinois and PJM should not take their foot off the pedal in terms of building new transmission and connections between grid regions,” Rutigliano said. “But before ringing alarm bells, they should use the solutions right in front of them. With over 202 GW of new resources already waiting to come online, PJM should prioritize high-speed low-cost solutions like plugging in storage to existing power sites and grid hookups.” 

More analysis of the report can be found in this blog from report leads Claire Lang-Ree, Annie Minondo, and Tom Rutigliano.

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NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).