Geneva’s coal, natural gas investments on collision course with renewable energy legislation

GENEVA – The city of Geneva’s electric utility is at a crossroads, as Illinois lawmakers consider five clean energy bills to transition the state to 100% renewable energy, and the city gets 79% of its energy from Prairie State Energy Campus, a 1600 megawatt coal-fired generating plant and on-site coal mine.

In a three-hour special Committee of the Whole meeting May 10, the city’s utility officials explained Geneva’s energy sources, financial obligations and what it could mean when the state moves from carbon-based energy.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere amplifies the Earth’s natural greenhouse effect, causing climate change, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, prompting the effort to end fossil-based fuels.

In 2004, Geneva entered into a joint purchasing agreement with the Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency to get 35 megawatts of power from Prairie State through 2041, Public Works Director Rich Babica said. A megawatt is a unit of power equal to one million watts.

Geneva owed 10.522 shares of that total bond debt payment, which the city pays NIMPA through its purchasing agreements, Babica said.

“That power comes from Prairie State because that’s where we have the bonds. That bond payment and those debts are what the city does have to pay through 2041. … If you add up Geneva’s share from 2030 to 2041, it comes out to just over $97 million,” Babica said.

“Depending on which version of the legislation you’re looking at, 2030 could be the time where Prairie State would go dark,” Babica said.

Geneva’s energy portfolio includes 20% from NextEra, from which 80% of its energy is wind; Waste Management’s methane gas from the closure of Settlers Hill landfill provides 8.5% of the city’s power; and the natural-gas powered Geneva Generating facility provides 1%, Babica said.

Geneva Generating Facility

From 2017 to 2020, the generating facility saved $2.2 million to $3.3 million in transmission and capacity charges during peak energy periods – 10 days of the year, he said.

“If legislation goes to carbonless or carbon-free power … this (generating) facility will no longer be able to operate,” Babica said. “That will have a rather dramatic effect on our customer base.”

The Geneva Generating Facility cost $18 million and the city made its final payment on it last year, he said.

The city gets a monthly bill for the transmission and capacity rights to move the energy back and forth, Babica said.

“GGF (Geneva Generating Facility) is a critical piece of the city’s portfolio and its reliability network and it is in direct threat with the legislation in Springfield, because it is carbon-fired. It runs off natural gas,” Babica said.

“We are watching and will react and adapt as we need to,” Babica said. “The overriding goal is to move the state of Illinois away from carbon to renewable. That is where we are going. The question is, what vehicle takes us there.”

‘A 19th century technology’

As officials grappled with what the move away from coal or natural gas means for the city’s ability to provide for its customers, several residents spoke in support of the move to renewable energy.

Wiley Edmondson said his concern was what world his 5-year-old twin granddaughters were going to live in.

“Most of the power in Geneva comes from coal-fired power plants, which is a 19th century technology – and this is the 21st century,” Edmondson said. “Not many years ago, the C02 (carbon dioxide in the atmosphere) was 404 parts per million. It’s now 420 parts per million. The last time it was that high was 3.5 million years ago. That’s where we’re at.”

Edmondson said the city should support Illinois ending coal-fired power plants by 2030, and should ask for more state and federal support to help Geneva absorb the costs.

Resident Bill Scown said the leading bills in Springfield call for phasing out coal, gas and nuclear power in stages by 2030, 2045 and 2050 – with funding for a transition that supports workers and communities during the phase-out.

Another way to fund the transition is through a pollution or carbon fee levied on owners and passed on to ratepayers, Scown said.

The cost in the Clean Energy Jobs Act, for example, would increase a Geneva ratepayer’s bill by $6 a month, he said, “an affordable cost increase.”

“It’s a reasonable price to pay to exit Prairie State,” Scown said.

As to the Geneva Generating Facility, if the city shut one of its five turbines, it would be below the capacity for being shut down, Scown said.

“Clean energy is not unaffordable,” Scown said.

He referred to a study by RMI, a nonpartisan energy consultancy company, which all aldermen have received and is available via its website, hrmi.org.

“The cost of clean energy continues to drop like a stone while the cost of operating coal-fired energy continues to increase,” Scown said.

Kevin Brehm, a manager in electricity practice at RMI, said the company’s analysis showed closing Prairie Sate would have a large environmental impact.

“Our report found that the emissions from the coal plant each year are equivalent to 2.7 million cars – just to give sort of an order of magnitude at the amount of emissions coming from that,” Brehm said.

Coal use declined by 50% in the last 10 years and by 2020, it was at its lowest consumption since 1905, Brehm said.

A moral imperative

Another resident, Adam McMillan, said there was a moral imperative to closing Prairie State.

“We have the coal plant, but the coal plant is not sitting outside Geneva. It’s not outside the town that uses power,” McMillan said. “It is dirty and it’s pollution.”

Rev. Scott Hull, the new pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, urged officials to support the closure of Prairie State.

Prairie State is putting more than 1 million tons of carbon into the air per month and is considered one of the top 10 industrial sources of heat-trapping carbon in the nation, Hull said.

Another resident, Jean Pierce urged all concerned to read the RMI report.

“We have a responsibility not just to save money, but to save our planet,” Pierce said.

Mayor Kevin Burns said lawmakers would likely not take action until fall, giving municipalities more time to consider their options, as well as to talk to lawmakers about their needs.