The Illinois Power Agency will be updating its Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan during 2021 to guide Agency activities on renewable resources procurements and programs during 2022 and 2023.
As part of this process, the Agency will be holding three workshops in June 2021 to gather initial stakeholder feedback. The workshops will be followed up with written requests for comments. Through these workshops and written comments, the Agency will be able to consider initial stakeholder input as it revises the Long-Term Plan. In addition to this workshop and comment process, stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on that draft Revised Plan once it is released[1], and to participate in the Illinois Commerce Commission proceeding to approve the Revised Plan.
If the General Assembly passes legislation during the week of June 14 that updates the Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard, the Agency will revise the first workshop agenda to provide a high-level overview of those expected changes. The Agency will also update the agendas for Workshops 2 and 3 to include additional information regarding changes to the Adjustable Block Program and the Illinois Solar for All Program.
The workshops will be held virtually through WebEx and require registration. You can register in advance or before joining. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to join the workshop. Registration links for each workshop are provided below.
[1] The draft Plan is scheduled to be released on August 16, 2021 but the Agency understands this date may be postponed by pending legislation.
Workshop 1
Friday, June 18, 2021; 9:30 a.m. to Noon
- Renewable Portfolio Standard overview
- Long-Term Plan update process
- RPS budget update
- Strengthening equity, diversity, and labor standards in the renewable energy industry
- Options for project/vendor requirements
- Reporting options
- Utility-scale and brownfield site procurements
- Timeline for future procurements
- Updates to procurement requirements including REC price structure
- Project location and resource adequacy
- Public Interest Criteria for adjacent state projects
Workshop 2
Thursday, June 24, 2021; 9:30 a.m. to Noon
- Adjustable Block Program
- Impact of budget constraints on timing of future blocks
- Block structure
- Industry structure and business models
- Project financing models and program requirements
- Project application requirements
- System design standards and consumer disclosure
- Consumer protections
- Illinois Solar for All
- Low-Income Distributed Generation sub-program
- Reducing soft costs
- Multifamily buildings requirements
- Non-profit/Public Facilities sub-program
- Ownership models
- Critical Service Providers
- Low-Income Community Solar sub-program
- Anchor tenants and project hosting
- Subscriber owned projects
- Project selection process
- Job training requirements
- Low-Income Distributed Generation sub-program
Workshop 3
Friday, June 25, 2021; 9:30 a.m. to Noon
- Community Solar
- Selection of projects to increase diversity of community solar project types and models
- Waitlist management
- Small subscriber requirements
- Coordination between utility subscription management and ABP subscription management
- REC Pricing Considerations
- Comparison to REC prices (and other incentives) in other states
- Applicability of CREST Model
- Model inputs
- Net metering value
- Small subscriber adder
- Solar for All REC pricing
- Making model more dynamic