* WMBD…

Illinois lawmakers held a virtual committee meeting to discuss the increased energy prices, and the resulting conversation doesn’t leave a bright future for the state.

Ameren prices across Illinois have gone up an average of $46 per month since June 1, according to the Illinois Environmental Council. From the same folks, ComEd prices only went up $8 per month. […]

The biggest issue identified was data centers. These large buildings power AI technology, requiring an immense amount of power. A spokesperson for ComEd said he’s had requests from data centers that could take gigawatts worth of energy off the grid. […]

Other ideas discussed during the committee include battery storage, additional nuclear power plants and legislation that would require data centers to build their own power plants.

* Illinois isn’t alone here. Electricity costs are spiking nationwide. NPR…

Across the country, electricity prices have jumped more than twice as fast as the overall cost of living in the last year. That’s especially painful during the dog days of summer, when air conditioners are working overtime. […]

Power-hungry data centers have been popping up all over, to serve the boom in artificial intelligence. The Energy Department projects data centers and other commercial customers will use more electricity than households for the first time ever next year. That’s a challenge for policymakers, who have to decide how to accommodate that extra demand and who should foot the bill. […]

The soaring price of natural gas is also pushing power prices higher. More than 40% of electricity is generated using natural gas. As more gas is exported as liquid natural gas, the competition from foreign customers is driving up the price utilities have to pay here at home. […]

The Energy Department says the cost of gas used to generate power jumped more than 40% in the first half of this year compared to 2024. Another 17% increase is expected next year.

[Note from Rich: That story belies the currently widespread claim that natural gas will solve the affordability problem.]

* So, what lessons can Illinois take from Texas? Invest in battery storage. Bloomberg earlier this year…

“Drill, baby, drill” may be Texas’s unofficial motto, but “store, baby, store” is becoming more accurate.

The Lone Star State may be the heart of America’s oil and gas map, but it’s quickly becoming the biggest installer of a technology key for renewables development: battery storage.

Last year, some 4 gigawatts of battery capacity — enough to power around 3 million homes — switched on in the state, besting the pace of similar projects in California for the first time. Before Donald Trump imposed 125% tariffs on key battery market China, Texas was set to add more than double the state’s total storage capacity in 2025, according to a Bloomberg Green analysis of federal energy data. […]

Big batteries are addressing some of the biggest issues facing the electric grid that now has the most renewable capacity in the nation. On the supply side, they can hold the glut of wind and solar power generated across the state. On the demand side, they are helping meet the surging needs of new residents and a growing number of electric vehicles and server stacks in data centers.

* Inside Climate News last month…

Last year, the risk of grid emergencies during the summer peak risk hour ending around 9 p.m. [in Texas] was 16 percent. This year, [the Electric Reliability Council of Texas] reports, it’s fallen to less than 1 percent. […]

The addition of more than 9,600 megawatts of capacity to the state’s grid since last summer, coupled with conservative operations and reliable management, has produced this result, [ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas] said at an ERCOT board of directors meeting this week.

There’s more solar and batteries on the horizon. The bulk of interest in ERCOT’s growing queue of generation interconnection requests comes from the two renewable energy sources, Hobbs said. Of the roughly 400 gigawatts of capacity accounted for in those requests, about 40 percent each are batteries and solar. About 10 percent are wind and a little less are gas.

* Rhythm Energy Blog…

When demand spikes, electricity prices can soar. Battery storage helps smooth out these spikes by releasing stored energy during high-cost periods. That stabilizes wholesale prices and protects customers from extreme rate swings, especially in volatile seasons like summer.

Texas weather can be unpredictable, and that puts strain on the grid. With battery storage acting as a fast-response energy source, the grid has a better chance of staying online when other power sources fail or fall short.

This isn’t to say Texas is immune to rising energy costs altogether. Trump Administration cuts to federal tax credits for solar and wind may hinder renewable energy growth. But the state is showing that storage can help tame both prices and reliability risks.

* Back to Illinois. Canary Media in June…

Supporters of a major clean energy bill that fell short in the final days of Illinois’ legislative session are licking their wounds and trying to figure out what went wrong — and what comes next. […]

The bill would have made Illinois one of a number of states offering subsidies for battery storage on the grid, with the goal of spurring 6 gigawatts of storage by 2030. Solar industry leaders enthusiastically backed the bill, seeing it as a way to build on the solar boom sparked by the two previous state laws, by facilitating solar-plus-storage projects.

Solar and batteries may also be the nation’s best bet to quickly meet growing electricity demand, as equipment backlogs slow down plans to build gas-fueled power plants. ​“The only resource that we believe can [be deployed] in a time frame of a few years is energy storage,” said Andrew Linhares, the Solar Energy Industries Association senior manager for the Central U.S. ​“And of course, pairing it with solar is by far the cheapest new generation you can bring online.”

…Adding… Illinois Industrial Energy Consumers…

“While Texas is a deep red state, it is also the greenest state, developing and deploying the largest battery and renewable energy fleet without foisting costs on ratepayers in the form of state subsidies and hidden taxes on electric bills.  Additionally, solar industry representatives confirmed that solar generation no longer needs federal tax credits to be competitive.  In other words, if lawmakers promote an energy market without special interest mandates, the state can take great strides towards an energy policy that is affordable, reliable and sustainable.”

* More…

* Rhythm | What the Battery Storage Boom in Texas Means to You and the ERCOT Grid: When demand spikes, electricity prices can soar. Battery storage helps smooth out these spikes by releasing stored energy during high-cost periods. That stabilizes wholesale prices and protects customers from extreme rate swings, especially in volatile seasons like summer.

* Texas Tribune | Hundreds of old EV batteries have new jobs in Texas: Stabilizing the power grid: East of San Antonio in Bexar County, 500 electric vehicle batteries at the end of their automotive lives will soon be repurposed to provide energy storage for Texas’ electric grid, a California company, B2U Storage Solutions, announced last week. The batteries, housed in 21 cabinets the size of shipping containers, create a second life for the technology made from critical minerals, including lithium, nickel and cobalt, for another eight years, said Freeman Hall, co-founder and CEO.

* Chron | Energy company unveils 100MW South Texas battery storage facility: Yet another battery storage facility is operational and adding energy capacity in Texas. Apex Clean Energy, a Virginia company that has already planted seeds in the Lone Star State, announced this week that its 100-megawatt (MW) battery energy storage system (BESS) in Hidalgo County is up and running. […] Texas is ranked second in the nation behind California in battery storage; as of September, the state had about 4,832 MW of energy inside batteries.

* Bloomberg | How Big Batteries Could Prevent Summer Power Blackouts: When power demand peaked around 4:30 in the afternoon, almost half of the electricity on the grid was coming from renewables, according to the energy analytics platform GridStatus.IO. As the sun set, battery banks that had been soaking up electrons in the heat of the day stepped up to cover 8% of demand, keeping power flowing.“Batteries are very good at handling these types of events,” said Andrew Gilligan, director of commercial strategy at Fluence Energy Inc., a battery developer with three storage sites in Texas. “Things have gotten a lot better than a couple years ago.”