Heat Waves Are Stressing Our Energy Grid, But Illinois Is Responding

The following article features perspective from Solar Powers Illinois Expert Lesley McCain, Executive Director of the Illinois Solar Energy & Storage Association:

Illinois' investments in clean energy are setting the state up for a stronger energy grid and lower electricity prices.

As temperatures have soared across the country recently, PJM – the power grid operator for the northern Illinois – has warned of record-high energy usage as people crank up the air conditioning. High usage creates an increased blackout risk and drives electricity prices even higher than they already are. 

In another sign of the severity of the concerns, ComEd said the grid was at a “critical level” during the first week of July in parts of Chicago and the western suburbs, encouraging residents to curb their energy usage to avoid a worst-case scenario.

The dangers of blackouts are well-known. Not only are they disruptive and uncomfortable, but they can be deadly.

Unfortunately, heat waves in Illinois will only grow in intensity and frequency as the climate continues to warm. Even if severe weather was not a factor, our energy grid is on pace to have a supply shortage in just a few years. Factors such as data centers, advanced manufacturing, and the increasing electrification of everyday life mean that irregular events like heat waves push the grid closer to its breaking point. 

This is why it’s so important that Illinois builds more energy supply to meet the demands of the present as well as the future – and it’s equally important that we start doing so as soon as possible, because energy infrastructure takes years to plan, build, and connect to the grid.

Illinois took a major first step toward better grid reliability and energy affordability this year when Governor Pritzker signed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), which will build battery storage to pair with solar – the fastest and cheapest power sources to get online – better utilize our existing resources, and improve Illinois’ long-term energy planning. Not only will this improve reliability, thereby lowering prices,  it will also create billions of dollars of investment and create thousands of jobs.

PJM, which serves our local ComEd service territory, and MISO, which serves the state’s Ameren customers, are multistate power grids, so we will always be impacted to a degree by what happens outside Illinois’ borders. That’s why it’s so important for us to take control of what we can, and why I am grateful that state legislators and Gov. Pritzker are doing everything in their power to achieve a more reliable and affordable energy grid. Illinois has taken important, nation-leading steps, but our work is not done. The solar and storage industry is prepared to meet the moment.