Full Title: Achieving Illinois’s Clean Energy Potential: Stronger Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Standards Would Drive Investment, Save Consumers Money, and Reduce Emissions
Author(s): Union of Concerned Scientists
Publisher(s): Union of Concerned Scientists
Publication Date: April 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
In 2007 Illinois established itself as a national clean energy leader when it passed a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and an energy efficiency portfolio standard (EEPS) requiring investor-owned utilities to supply 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2025 and achieve annual reductions in energy demand equal to two percent of the previous year’s sales.
But progress toward meeting the RPS and EEPS targets has been hampered by flaws in the policies. For example, problems in the current RPS law have limited long-term planning of energy resource investments that would enable sustained renewable energy development. Consequently, renewable energy development in Illinois has largely stagnated.
Additionally, the energy efficiency standard has encountered barriers to successful implementation. Illinois utilities have fallen short of the mandated energy savings targets because state law limits utility spending on measures that will reduce energy consumption even when they would provide net benefits to consumers.
But now Illinois has an opportunity to reclaim its position as a clean energy leader by not only fixing the existing RPS and EEPS, but also by strengthening them to require that 35 percent of the state’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2030 and that utilities achieve energy efficiency savings to reduce the state’s energy demand by 20 percent over the next decade. A strengthened RPS and EEPS would drive significant investments in Illinois’s clean energy resources while simultaneously reducing consumer spending on energy, providing a win-win for Illinois.