ComEd/Exelon Urged To Make Good on Its Clean Energy Promise

Event Highlights Benefits of Wind and Solar Power, as ICC Deadline Approaches

Just two days before the end of the 30-day period for ComEd/Exelon to file its clean energy plan with the Illinois Commerce Commission, clean energy proponents gathered near Millennium Park’s Exelon Pavilion to urge the state’s largest electric company to make a firm commitment to meeting the state’s renewable power goals.

“Governor Blagojevich and the ICC have rightly recognized that clean energy means economic development, jobs, stable electric prices and a cleaner environment,” said Stanfield. “But whether these benefits will be achieved depends upon the detailed plans submitted by the utilities.”

In February, Governor Blagojevich proposed his Sustainable Energy Plan, including a provision to require the state’s retail electric companies to ensure that at least 8% of their power comes from clean wind, solar or other renewable energy sources by 2013. Nineteen other states have already adopted similar policies to spur the development of renewable energy. On July 19, the Illinois Commerce Commission unanimously passed a resolution adopting a renewable energy standard, but making participation by the utilities voluntary, instead of mandatory as it is in most states. The resolution gave ComEd and the state’s other retail electric suppliers 30 days, ending August 18, to develop and file detailed implementation plans, showing how they will purchase and sell increasing amounts of power generated from clean wind, solar and biomass resources. At that time, ComEd President Frank Clark pledged to implement the plan, stating: "We're committed to following the Governor's timetable and, with Commission approval, supporting the level of investment specified in the Governor's plan.”

While wind gets the most attention in Illinois, Mark Burger, Sales Manager of Spire Solar Chicago, a local photovoltaic, or solar electric, manufacturer, said “Solar electricity can play a vital part in the Governor’s Sustainable Energy Plan. Solar electricity, which is non-polluting, generates during peak demand times and near and on buildings. For it to thrive, it must be given a dedicated percentage of the power mix, just like wind. What ComEd, other electric power suppliers and the Illinois Commerce Commission decide in the coming days will determine whether Illinois will be a major producer of solar electricity with manufacturing and installation jobs and businesses contributing to our economy, or a spectator to states like California and New Jersey.”

Today, more than 99% of the power sold to Illinois customers is generated by fossil fuel-fired or nuclear power plants, both of which produce large amounts of dangerous pollutants. There is no safe disposal option for radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants, which will remain deadly to humans for thousands of years and is currently stored on site at reactors throughout the state. Coal-burning power plants are the largest industrial source of the smog that has caused more than a dozen unhealthy air pollution action days in Chicago this summer. In addition, mercury, which has contaminated the fish in lakes and rivers across the state is a byproduct of burning coal in plants that lack modern pollution control equipment.

“When well over 600,000 adults and children in Illinois have asthma and most of those people live in areas that fail to meet minimal air quality standards, it’s easy to conclude that the use of non-polluting Illinois energy sources should be maximized,” said Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health Programs for the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. “Reaching the Governor’s goals for renewable energy will save lives, prevent frightening emergency room visits and hospital stays, and prevent school and work absences by replacing emissions from old coal plants with clean, pollution-free wind and solar energy.”

While the environmental benefits of wind energy are widely recognized, it is also worth remembering the economic advantages it presents to rural communities. Construction, land leases, and maintenance all work to keep energy dollars in the community, creating jobs and opportunities. For example, using the methodology of a recent study by the Iowa Policy Project, the 32-turbine Crescent Ridge wind project in Bureau County is estimated to generate an annual economic benefit to the local community of approximately $28,500 per turbine. The same study found that wind projects that are locally owned, rather than owned by out-of-state developers, bring nearly ten times as much economic benefit to the communities in which they are located. Economic stimulus on this scale can make the difference between selling out or keeping the family farm for another generation, and so community-owned wind projects represent an environmentally friendly way to revitalize rural communities while helping secure Illinois’ energy independence.

“ComEd is saying all the right things in the press about supporting the Governor’s clean energy agenda,” said Rebecca Stanfield, Director of Illinois PIRG. “We hope that the detailed filings due this week will reflect a true commitment to developing Illinois’s wind and solar power resources,” she continued.

The advocates called upon the utilities to ensure that their plans include:

1. Commitment to purchase increasing proportions of electricity for resale to customers from clean, renewable energy generation sources, as follows:
   • 2% by 2007;
   • 3% by 2008;
   • 4% by 2009;
   • 5% by 2010;
   • 6% by 2011;
   • 7% by 2012;
   • 8% by 2013.
2. Commitment that at least 75% of the renewable energy purchased to meet the standard is generated from wind power.
3. Commitment to enter into long-term power purchase contracts of 15 years or more with the wind and solar developers to give sufficient certainty of a market for their power to attract financing.
4. Commitment that the company will report annually to the ICC and that the report will include all necessary data to verify whether or not the company has met the renewable energy standard.