Illinois considers state incentives for transmission…

The Clean Grid Alliance, a national organization, advocates for grid expansion both through the regional transmission organizations’ planning processes, and through merchant lines. The alliance supported a proposal during the last Illinois legislative session that would have created RECs for merchant transmission. Clean Grid Alliance vice president of advocacy Jeff Danielson said he does not know of any other states that have created RECs for this purpose.

“We encourage states to help in any way possible to get the electric interstate superhighway built,” said Danielson. ​“It really is up to the states to secure their own economic future around a resilient and commerce-friendly grid. Whether it’s a REC concept, direct power purchase agreements, permitting reform, we encourage all of it. We literally need to build the transmission everywhere all at once.”

Financial lift

Since projects like Grain Belt Express and SOO Green cover multiple states, it may seem unfair for one state to carry more of the financial burden by offering subsidies. But Danielson said that may be necessary to tip the balance and make sure transmission gets built; and other states should follow Illinois’s lead.

“There’s the idea it will just get built,” without state action, Danielson said. ​“But it won’t, it hasn’t. Merchant lines are incredibly difficult to build. A governor has to understand the value to his state, his colleagues in other states have to understand this is what’s going to drive economic growth. Every time they’re in a meeting they should be saying, ​‘We have to get to yes.’ It’s a shared opportunity and shared responsibility.”

A March 2024 study by the Illinois Power Agency estimated that credits for the SOO Green line would cost ratepayers $430 million per year, while reducing utility bills to save them $178 million per year. The line would also add $414 million in economic benefit to the state’s economy, the agency found.

The Laborers’ International Union of North America is among the labor unions supporting a transmission-incentives bill. The union’s Midwest governmental affairs director, Sean Stott, noted that Invenergy’s Grain Belt Express, for example, is projected to create 1,500 construction jobs in central Illinois.

“They’ve made a commitment to employing residents of central Illinois to do that work, including members of the Laborers union,” he said. ​“Any time you do that, you’ll have money in the pockets of workers. It would definitely generate a significant amount of economic activity in the local community.”

He doesn’t think union members would resent the additional charges on electric bills to fund transmission incentives.

“There are no free lunches in life, there would be a small charge, however they would receive by virtue of an influx of lower-cost power, downward pressure on their electric bills,” he said.

The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association also supports such legislation.

“We’ve seen warnings for the last couple years both in PJM and MISO of potential brown-outs,” said association president Mark Denzler. ​“When there are challenges, the first folks they ask to reduce load are industries. Transmission projects are one place where the state has the ability to work on making sure we have reliability.”

The legislation might also include a component known as ​“next generation highways,” allowing transmission lines to be co-located with highways, a situation currently prohibited under Illinois law. Minnesota last year passed similar legislation.

“We want to at least allow utilities the option to consider that,” said Gignac. ​“It’s something states can do, allowing some flexibility in the location of transmission lines.” 

Danielson framed the relationship to highways as symbolic on a larger level.

“We have never thought about our grid in an integrated interstate commerce way like we thought about the highway system in the 1950s, and we really need to,” he said. ​“Because resilience to weather events and connecting economies through clean energy and 24–7 internet commerce are going to be the reasons Midwest states and the U.S. in general are going to be an economic leader in the future.”