Green energy advocates to host 'coal problem' event for St. Charles, Batavia, Geneva residents

To open a discussion on how to move away from coal consumption, green advocates are hosting an educational meeting for residents of Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles Wednesday, Nov. 15.

While most people in northern Illinois are ComEd customers, residents of these three cities get their electricity from municipally run utilities. As a result, much of their power is from coal-fired generation, namely the Prairie State Energy Campus coal plant located in southwestern Illinois.

Respectively, Batavia, St. Charles and Geneva each get 100%, 80% and 70% of their electricity from coal. In contrast, Illinois' in-state electricity generation in 2022 amounted to 52% nuclear, 21% coal and 14% renewables like wind and solar.

With each city locked into various contracts that essentially require the majority of their electricity be sourced from coal, groups including Citizens Utility Board, Sierra Club Illinois and Prairie Rivers Network are hosting a discussion about how the communities got to where they are - and how they can possibly help change their reliance on the fossil fuel.

The event is meant to cut through the complexity of the cities' energy consumption and encourage residents to ask for more transparency from their elected officials and utilities, Scott Allen, an Environmental Outreach Coordinator with consumer advocacy group Citizens Utility Board, said.

It will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Collins Auditorium at the Baker Community Center in St. Charles, 101 S. 2nd St. Residents can register at https://rb.gy/1cjhn.

"We're advocating for consumers that whatever they decide - because they own these utilities and it's supposed to be a democratic process with publicly owned utilities - to come listen," Allen said.

"Information is critical. For each one of the municipalities, their biggest expense is probably their utility, how much they pay for electricity. They should have access to all of the information that they need to understand how their money is being spent."

Unlike most of the state, the three cities don't get their power from investor-owned utilities like ComEd or Ameren. Instead, the municipalities are part of joint municipal power agencies.

St. Charles belongs to the Illinois Municipal Energy Agency along with Naperville and 30 other towns up and down the state. Led by the Naperville Environment & Sustainability Task Force, the groups held a similar event in Naperville in September.

Meanwhile, Batavia and Geneva are part of the Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency.

Because the two joint agencies aren't subject to state regulation as ComEd and Ameren are, they make their own decisions regarding rates, power supply, transmission, local distribution and service to customers.

It's the power supply that environmental advocates are most interested in, with a particular concern toward coal, given its carbon-intensity, contribution to air pollution and toxic waste.

In 2021, the Illinois Municipal Energy Agency got 45% of its power from the Prairie State Energy Campus coal power plant, while coal-fired generators at the Trimble County Generating Station in Kentucky provided 23% of the power.

The Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency gets 100% of its power from Prairie State.

To make matters more complicated for residents and advocates who are trying to cut down on the fossil fuel energy, not only do these agencies get the bulk of their energy from coal - they each own part of the Prairie State Energy Campus, and by extension, so do the cities.

For St. Charles, which is already locked into a contract with its agency until 2035, that means the city would still be responsible for its joint ownership of the coal-fired assets even if it didn't renew its contract. Batavia and Geneva are in similar, if not more committed, situations.

For instance, Batavia's contract goes until 2056. Per what the city agreed to when it signed on, it's required to buy 55 mW of electricity from its agency each year - even though the city only uses 25 to 35 mW a year.

"It's a particularly egregious situation," said Batavia resident Susan Russo, a retired attorney and clean energy advocate. "Unless the plant does close, as (state law) requires it to do in 2045, we will be getting our power from Prairie State."

While other Illinois coal plants will close in 2030 under state law, Prairie State is exempted because it is a publicly owned plant. Rather, it must cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2038, and either close or reduce its emissions to zero by 2045.

"There are many, many threads that have wrapped around and bound (the municipalities) to this plant. The message we want people to get is that none of us are under the illusion or even advocating to close that plant tomorrow," Allen said.

"What we're saying is that the rest of the state has a plan to transition. We would like it if you all came up with your own plan to transition. Because that power is becoming more expensive, it's dirty, and we find out every year that even 2030 is too late to start closing these coal plants."

Because it's unlikely Batavia would transfer over to greener energy sources while still on the hook for its Prairie State commitments, Russo is advocating that the city electrifies and uses the 55 mW it buys in place of other fossil fuels like gasoline and natural gas.

This move would also require planning on the city and the utilities' parts to make sure the grid infrastructure can handle an increase in electricity use.

"If we can use that energy instead of gas for our stoves and water heaters, and instead of gasoline for cars, it will, in the long run, help with the emission of greenhouse gases," Russo said.

While the path toward a greener future remains unclear, for now, the advocates' focus is on spreading the word.

"We need people to know their power comes from a coal-burning power plant. That is the big starting place," Russo said. "There's a ton of people I talk to who have no clue that that's where their electricity comes from. The one overriding thing is people need to be educated and know where their power comes from and what the situation actually is."

• Jenny Whidden, jwhidden@dailyherald.com, is a climate change and environment writer working with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America supported by The Nature Conservancy. To help support her work with a tax-deductible donation, see dailyherald.com/rfa.