2009 Dec 28
The Illinois Commerce Commission approved a plan to solicit proposals for 20-year contracts to buy power from wind farms on behalf of the state’s utility customers despite critical comments a majority of the commissioners made earlier this month about the idea.
In a victory for wind power developers, the ICC voted 3-1 to allow the Illinois Power Agency, which buys electricity on behalf of customers of Commonwealth Edison Co. and Ameren Corp., to negotiate long-term deals with renewable power developers for up to 3.5% of the utilities’ electricity needs.
IPA Executive Director Mark Pruitt recently added the long-term renewable contracts to his power purchasing plans for 2010 at the behest of Gov. Pat Quinn, who wants the state to more actively promote wind farms in Illinois. At current low energy prices, the cost of wind power is considerably higher than market, and developers say they can’t get financing for projects without long-term contracts. The pacts, for which wind power developers lobbied hard, also were backed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=36577&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StatelineorgRss-Illinois+%28Stateline.org+RSS+-+Illinois%29
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