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Ends and Means: Prairie winds could power Illinois' future

Charles N. Wheeler III
WUIS/Illinois Issues

Heading north on Interstate 39 on a summer day as the land rises from the Illinois River valley, a motorist sees a strange sight ahead on the horizon to the west: a shimmering company of slender figures, languidly spiraling their arms in a slow-motion ballet. The vision is not that of magical dancers on an enchanted prairie, however. Instead, it's a peek at what might become a commonplace sight in rural Illinois and a significant part of the state's energy future: a wind farm.

The 63 giant turbines — each more than 300 feet tall from base to rotor tip — comprise the Mendota Hills wind farm in Lee County, the first of its kind in Illinois. The project, which began operations in November 2003, is capable of producing more than 50 megawatts of electricity, enough for the daily needs of more than 12,000 homes. By 2012, though, more than one million households would be powered by electricity generated from wind farms and other renewable sources, under an ambitious plan before the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in February, the Sustainable Energy Plan calls for electric suppliers to derive 2 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by the end of next year. The requirement for renewable energy would increase by one percentage point each year until 2012, when 8 percent of the electricity sold in Illinois would have to come from renewable sources, three-quarters of it wind power.

In addition, the governor's proposal would require energy conservation measures to be adopted sufficient to reduce the projected growth in electrical use by one-quarter over the next decade. In part, the reduction would come from encouraging investment in more energy-efficient construction, industrial processes and residential products. A compact fluorescent lamp, for example, uses only about one-fourth as much electricity as a conventional incandescent light bulb; today's refrigerators use much less energy than models of a decade ago.

The conservation initiative also envisions providing consumers "real-time" information about electricity prices, so they can choose to use less power when prices spike during hours of peak demand. Something as simple as running the clothes dryer after dark on hot summer days, for instance, would reduce a customer's electric bill.

"Boosting our reliance on homegrown sources of renewable energy and increasing our investment in energy efficiency measures will not only help Illinois become more energy self-sufficient but provide great benefits to the people of our state, including cleaner air, new jobs, investment in rural communities," the governor said in a February letter to the commission.

Since then, the panel has sought ideas on the plan from utilities, consumer groups, environmentalists and anyone else interested. Surprising, perhaps, the discussion seems to have produced a general consensus on the plan's worth among interests that don't always see eye-to-eye. The state's two major utilities — Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Utilities — have endorsed the plan; so have the Citizens" Utility Board and the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

By 2012, more than one million households would be powered by electricity generated from wind farms and other renewable sources, under an ambitious plan.

"The parties on this stuff are all going in the same direction," said Commissioner Robert Lieberman, who's heading the effort to implement the plan. "We call it the Kumbaya docket."

The near-total agreement reflects dramatic changes in energy markets in recent years, Lieberman believes, with greater price volatility prompting electrical suppliers to seek ways to reduce their exposure to market spikes. Taking steps to reduce demand and to rely on renewable power sources not as affected by market volatility is simply the prudent thing to do, Lieberman notes.

Besides helping to stabilize energy prices, the plan would provide significant economic and environmental benefits, according to a study released last month by the Energy Resources Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. If the governor's 2012 goals for renewable energy and conservation are met, center researchers calculated, more than 15,000 new jobs would be created and the state's economy would get a $4.7 billion boost.

Moreover, by relying more on such pollution-free renewable sources as wind energy and by reducing consumer demand, significant progress would be made in meeting new federal requirements to cut power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide, a major component of acid rain; nitrogen oxides, which figure in smog production; and mercury, a toxic pollutant that affects fetal nervous system development.

More than 90 percent of the sulfur, nitrogen and carbon oxides now emitted by the state's power plants comes from burning coal, mostly from the west. In contrast, using renewable sources such as wind and solar power to generate electricity produces no pollutants. Using other renewable sources such as landfill gas — methane produced by decaying organic matter in what used to be called "garbage dumps"— or digested animal manure produces carbon dioxide but little sulfur or nitrogen oxides.

If 8 percent of the state's electricity were produced from renewable sources by 2012, as Blagojevich proposed, sulfur and carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced almost 99 percent from what would be emitted under a 'business-as-usual' scenario relying on coal-fired plants for the same amount of electricity, the researchers found. Nitrogen oxides would be slashed more than 86 percent, while no mercury would be emitted, compared to more than one-half ton with coal-fired plants. "Implementing just the renewable energy scenario would reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides pollution by 2012 by the equivalent of four typical midsize power plants operating today," the researchers concluded.

Lieberman is optimistic that the commission will finalize a plan soon, although a start-up date might be delayed because of practical questions, such as whether wind turbines can be built quickly enough to provide the extra generating power that would be needed next year.

But the governor's vision of sustainable energy — both increased reliance on renewable, nonpolluting sources and innovative conservation measures — is a sound one for Illinois, promising substantial benefits, both economic and environmental. The sooner it can be implemented, the better. 

 


Charles N. Wheeler III is director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Illinois Issues, July/August 2005

The former director of the Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) graduate program is Professor Charles N. Wheeler III, a veteran newsman who came to the University of Illinois at Springfield following a 24-year career at the Chicago Sun-Times.
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