Illinois lawmakers want to make it quicker for schools to connect solar energy to the grid. One Central Illinois grade school has been waiting two years to connect rooftop solar panels.
The bill requires energy companies to give priority to schools and companies have 30 days to give an evaluation on a project. They will also have to disclose upgrade costs to the grid and construction timelines to the school.
The bill now goes to the governor’s desk to be signed.
Republican state Sen. Chris Balkema, representing a large rural area between Bloomington-Normal and Interstate 80, supported the bill because the Metamora grade school in Woodford County is in his district and he said it is better to use rooftops for solar than to build solar farms on top of farmland.
“If there's not a solar panel on a rooftop, the rooftop is still there, so if we put a solar panel on a rooftop, we're getting some value out of that rooftop that otherwise there would have been no value,” Balkema said.
Balkema said he wants to make sure Illinois has enough power because he is worried that the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act [CEJA], a landmark 2021 law that calls for Illinois to phase out fossil fuels and use renewable energy exclusively by 2050, could lead to lower energy in Illinois.
Balkema said he is worried that schools will still have to wait a long time to finish connecting solar panels to the grid because of the need for grid upgrades.
“If it's going to produce a bad outcome on the technical and quality side and cause instability in the grid. Then they're still going to have to go slow and try and make the necessary upgrades to the grid to not cause power outages, or surges or other unintended consequences,” Balkema said.
Balkema said this is not a partisan issue and lawmakers should be focused on maintaining the stability of the grid.
“The Amerens, the ComEds, they're not the bad guys. They own pieces of the grid, they own the supply of electricity, and so they are trying to have reliable energy going to customers,” Balkema said.
Balkema said he opposes CEJA but with the deadline to phase out fossil fuels he wants to make sure people in Illinois have stable energy.
