Illinois proves states have a lot of power to advance clean energy

Illinois legislators and clean energy advocates have found themselves in a déjà vu moment: working on a package to accelerate their clean energy transition while federal opposition mounts.

The state’s path to climate action began eight years ago with the Future Energy Jobs Act, which devoted millions of dollars to clean energy jobs training, pushed utilities to create energy-efficiency programs, created a community solar program, and drove investment in renewables across the state. President Donald Trump had also just been sworn in for the first time, reinvigorating climate skepticism and renewable energy resistance on the national stage.

Despite the federal challenges, FEJA found success, and in 2021, it inspired the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which went even further on phasing out fossil fuels. The results have been clear: Illinois had only installed a tiny 80 MW of solar power statewide before FEJA’s passage and has since installed more than 3,500 MW, according to the state.

That wouldn’t have happened if Illinois waited around for the White House to step up, James Gignac, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Canary Media’s Kari Lydersen earlier this year.

“States for many years have not been able to rely on the federal government for climate action, whether due to politics or the Supreme Court,” Gignac said. And while the new Trump administration “doesn’t fundamentally change the energy policy path that the state is on, it just makes it even more urgent that state legislators pass additional policies.”

So now, state lawmakers are working on another pair of bills to make sure things keep rolling, Kari reported this week. They aim to evaluate the state’s current power grid, make it easier to expand the transmission system, and add a ton of new battery storage to make sure the grid can handle a mandated transition to 100% clean energy by 2050. Illinois is already on its way to meeting that goal, as it has one of the cleanest grids in the nation thanks to bountiful nuclear power.

“In a Trump world, nothing feels certain,” Andrew Rehn, climate policy director of the environmental group Prairie Rivers Network, told Kari. “But this feels real.”

Recipients of federal “green bank” funding are in an increasingly tough spot. The eight nonprofits sharing the $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund have only ever been able to withdraw enough money to pay two weeks’ worth of expenses. It’s now been two weeks since Trump’s crusade against the program began, meaning they can’t access money for salaries, rent, and other costs. And the administration shows no signs of stepping back, as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin this week asked his agency’s inspector general to investigate the green bank initiative.

Rooftop solar is more popular in the Golden State than in any other, but some analysts say the energy source is in part to blame for California's sky-high utility bills. Industry supporters say this is dead wrong, but two years ago, the state amended its rooftop solar incentives under this logic anyway — a move that caused installations to plummet and is now threatening even the largest solar firms. Sunnova announced this week it could run out of cash within the year.

Now, as Canary Media’s Jeff St. John reports, advocates fear deeper cuts are on the way as the debate over rooftop solar rears its head once again. On the other side of the country, similar discourse is threatening Maine’s net energy billing rules, Sarah Shemkus reports.