220 ILCS 5/16-201

(220 ILCS 5/16-201)

(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date)

Sec. 16-201. Integrated resource plan development.

(a) The General Assembly hereby finds that:

(1) In 2021, Illinois set itself on the path to a clean energy future that would produce the least amount of carbon and copollutant emissions while ensuring adequate, reliable, affordable, efficient, and environmentally sustainable electric service at the lowest total cost over time and in a manner that benefits the Illinois economy and workforce and improves the quality of life, including environmental health, for all its citizens.

(2) In the ensuing years, Illinois has created a strong economic environment that has led to the revitalization and expansion of its manufacturing sector and has made Illinois an attractive place for the technology industry to locate new data and quantum computing centers. These developments have led to the creation of good-paying jobs for working families.

(3) The unforeseen growth in the manufacturing and technology sectors will likely lead to a dramatic increase in electricity demand over time.

(4) The long interconnection times and the capacity market structures enacted by the 2 regional transmission organizations that Illinois is split between further exacerbate the potential for an imbalance between electricity supply and demand.

(5) The new sources of load growth from the manufacturing and technology sectors combined with external challenges require a more nimble and responsive administrative approach to effectively address future resource adequacy challenges.

(6) The Illinois agencies that oversee and implement Illinois energy policy must have the ability to (i) fully understand current and future resource adequacy needs, (ii) plan for what resources could be utilized to address such needs, (iii) be able to coordinate, modify, expand, and direct all of Illinois' existing energy programs and policies so as to address any resource adequacy or reliability concerns, and (iv) direct the development of new energy programs and policies in order meet resource adequacy and reliability needs without the need for additional legislative action.

(b) The purpose of this Section is to ensure that the Commission, the agencies, electric utilities supplying electric service in Illinois, stakeholders, market participants, and policymakers have a common set of data and information regarding the State's electricity resource needs in order to plan for sufficient electricity resources to serve Illinois customers in a manner that is adequate, safe, reliable, affordable, efficient, environmentally sustainable, at the lowest cost over time, and consistent with the energy policy goals of the State, including, but not limited to, the clean energy policy established by Public Act 102-662. To that end, this Section establishes a requirement that the agencies prepare an integrated resource plan and submit such plan to the Commission consistent with this Section for the Commission's review and approval after an opportunity for notice and hearing.

(c) Unless otherwise specified, as used in this Section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) "Advanced transmission technologies" means technologies, tools, and software that improve power flows over transmission systems and lines. "Advanced transmission technologies" includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(i) technology that dynamically adjusts the rated capacity of transmission lines based on real-time conditions;

(ii) advanced power flow controls used to actively control the flow of electricity across transmission lines to optimize usage or relieve congestion;

(iii) software or hardware used to identify optimal transmission grid configurations or enable routing power flows around congestion points; and

(iv) advanced transmission line conductors that have a direct current electrical resistance at least 10% lower than existing conductors of a similar diameter on the transmission system.

(2) "Agencies" means the Illinois Commerce Commission Staff, the Illinois Power Agency, the Illinois Finance Authority, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and any consultants those agencies retain, including, but not limited to, the consultant retained by the Commission pursuant to subsection (j) of this Section and the consultant retained by the Illinois Power Agency pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act.

(3) "Clean energy" means energy generation that either:

(A) emits no on-site SO2, NOx, mercury, or any other regulated pollutants; or

(B) as shown through pollution control technologies, has reduced a generator's CO2 emissions by 90% compared to what the generator would have otherwise emitted and that has CO2 emissions less than 130 lb/MWh.

(4) "Regional transmission organization" or "RTO" means PJM Interconnection, LLC (PJM) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) or the regional transmission organization or independent system operator of which the electric utility is a member or would be a member, given the location of the electric utility's customers, if it were required to be a member.

(d) The agencies, coordinated by Commission staff, shall compile and propose an integrated resource plan in compliance with this Section. The agencies may consult with each electric utility that has more than 500,000 electric retail customers in developing the plan and the plan shall consider any necessary interactions between RTO zones in the State. Commission staff shall submit the initial integrated resource plan to the Commission no later than November 15, 2026, the second integrated resource plan to the Commission no later than September 30, 2029, and each subsequent plan to the Commission every 4 years thereafter no later than September 30 of the applicable year. For the first integrated resource plan due on November 15, 2026, the agencies shall take into account the resource adequacy report prepared pursuant to subsection (o) of Section 9.15 of the Environmental Protection Act and shall specifically address any and all divergences from the analysis and conclusions in the report. At any time after the submission of a plan, the agencies may submit an update to the plan if the agencies believe that a material change in the inputs or conclusions of the plan is warranted. The agencies shall notify the Commission as soon as practicable of the material change and the potential update to the plan. The Commission shall publish the integrated resource plan on its website.

(e) An alternative retail electric supplier shall provide information related to the resource needs of its customers located in an electric utility's service territory as requested by the agencies or the Commission to compile and develop the plan required by this Section.

(f) Commission staff shall lead the agencies in the development of the integrated resource plan to ensure that a plan submitted pursuant to this Section includes a detailed analysis of the following:

(1) an evaluation of the future electric resource needs in each electric utility's service area for periods of at least 5, 10, 15, and 20 years such that the plan coincides with the timelines established in Section 9.15 of Title II of the Environmental Protection Act and is designed to support those standards to the maximum extent practicable on the schedule established therein;

(2) peak demand and energy usage forecasts, such that the plan:

(i) contains no fewer than 3 scenarios of (i) forecasted peak demand, (ii) net peak demand if different from peak demand, (iii) non-coincidental peak demand, and (iv) energy usage, to capture a reasonable range of forecasts based on historic trends and a diverse range of more conservative to high load growth based on reasonable projections. The scenarios should consider estimates of peak demand corresponding to seasons or other applicable time periods as defined by the regional transmission organization in which this State's electric utilities are a member;

(ii) reflects known changes in facility and appliance codes and standards;

(iii) reflects load reductions from State-sponsored programs;

(iv) reflects load reductions from programs sponsored by electric utilities;

(v) reflects load reductions from aggregators of retail customers that can be applied to the host load-serving entity's resource adequacy requirement;

(vi) reflects load reductions from any other sources including out-of-state programs that could influence load;

(vii) reflects expected adoption of other distributed energy resources, including behind-the-meter generation; and

(viii) includes any additional sensitivities as determined by the agencies;

(3) an analysis of all generation and energy resource options available to meet the range of load forecasts with a focus on the first period of at least 5 years covered by the plan, including an analysis of existing supply found within each electric utility's service area and new supply expected to come online across that period of at least 5 years, such that the plan shall consider the following:

(i) the current and projected status of electric resource adequacy throughout the State from sources the agencies deem reasonable;

(ii) a range of resource options that can be deployed at a reasonable scale, that provide clean energy to the maximum extent practicable, and that include generation and energy resources on both the demand-side and supply-side;

(iii) developing technologies that will be commercially viable during the period of analysis;

(iv) reflect reasonable assumptions for capital and operating costs and the performance of resource technologies. The calculation of resource costs shall include reasonable expected costs for transmission interconnection and network upgrades made necessary by the addition of each resource; and

(v) appropriate considerations for implementation, such as:

(A) timelines for implementation, including, but not limited to, siting, permitting, engineering, transmission interconnection, and the time it takes to modify existing programs or create new programs and put them into operation;

(B) recommendations for how new clean resources should be developed to respond to resource adequacy challenges; and

(C) any other requirements for implementation;

(4) confirmation that the resource adequacy and reliability requirements employed in the plan meet the following conditions:

(i) the plan must reflect planning reserve margin requirements established by the corresponding RTO, other resource adequacy requirements set by an applicable authority as authorized by the State, or another standard chosen by the Commission; and

(ii) the integrated resource plan may reflect a supplemental reliability analysis, including the evaluation of reliability metrics not prescribed by an RTO or other applicable authority as authorized by the State;

(5) consistency with existing State and federal environmental laws and policies, including, but not limited to, the decarbonization goals set forth in Section 9.15 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. The plan may consider potential changes in State and federal environmental laws and policies. The plan must provide expected emissions for CO2, SO2, NOx, mercury, and any other regulated pollutants in order to analyze the impact of retirement timelines on emissions reductions. The plan must be consistent with the State's other clean energy goals and targets, including, but not limited to, its renewable portfolio standard, its energy efficiency portfolio standard, the carbon mitigation credit program, and its energy storage system portfolio standard. The plan shall include an analysis of the following:

(i) the State's current progress toward its renewable energy resource development goals, its storage development goals, and its energy efficiency and demand-response goals, as well as the pace of the development of renewables, energy storage, including distributed storage, the deployment of virtual power plants, and demand-response utilization; and

(ii) the status of the State's CO2e and copollutant emissions reductions and its current status and progress toward developing emerging clean energy technologies;

(6) consideration of the following additional issues:

(i) an integrated resource plan shall be designed to collectively meet all of Illinois' energy policy goals and shall describe:

(A) how the plan complies with the various requirements of State energy policy;

(B) the assumptions and analytical methods used in the plan;

(C) recommendations for how State policy should serve to facilitate the development of new resources;

(D) the impacts of the plan on customer costs, including net present value costs relative to alternatives; and

(E) how the plan improves energy equity within environmental justice and equity investment eligible communities, as defined by the Energy Transition Act, including, but not limited to, reducing energy burden, ensuring affordability of electric utility bills and uninterruptible essential utility service, and reducing barriers to accessing renewable energy;

(ii) an integrated resource plan shall include a discussion of the steps needed to implement the plan, including, but not limited to, options and steps to bring on new or increased energy generated from any recommended resources for the 5 years after the plan would be implemented, that align with State clean energy policy;

(iii) an integrated resource plan shall consider the information and conclusions set forth in the renewable energy access plan developed in accordance with Section 8-512, including, but not limited to, information concerning the locations of renewable energy access plan zones, considerations of advanced transmission technologies to increase efficiencies, and different transmission planning options and cost allocations;

(iv) an integrated resource plan may consider the impacts of future or anticipated changes in State and federal energy laws and policies; and

(v) any solutions for any additional conclusions;

(7) if the agencies choose, portfolio-optimization results based on the following:

(i) capacity expansion and production cost modeling consistent with the conditions and constraints set forth in this Section;

(ii) optimized candidate portfolios that align with the load-growth scenarios described in paragraph (2) of subsection (f) of this Section and any additional portfolios chosen by the agencies to reflect alternative policy or technology assumptions;

(iii) a comparison of total system cost on a net-present-value basis, customer rate and bill impacts, risk metrics, including, but not limited to, cost variability under fuel-price and load shocks, emissions trajectories, and key reliability indicators; and

(iv) an identification of a preferred portfolio or portfolios that best satisfy the objectives of affordability, reliability, equity, and emission reduction and a narrative explanation of why the portfolio is recommended; and

The agencies may request that PJM and MISO, or their respective successor organizations, conduct a resource adequacy and reliability study. The study shall include the megawatt amount of energy storage capacity that would maintain resource adequacy during the study period to fully meet the requirements for CO2e and copollutant emissions reductions under Public Act 102-662 that would not otherwise be met by the interconnection queue and without large transmission upgrades, including maintaining sufficient in-State capacity to meet the zonal requirements of MISO Zone 4 or the PJM ComEd Zone. The study shall also identify recommended geographic locations for new storage and clean energy to mitigate local reliability risks, including at or near the sites of any generator deactivations to maximize the efficient utilization of existing infrastructure.

(Source: P.A. 104-458, eff. 6-1-26.)