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Agenda Item Discussed: 

1. Open and Introduction 
2. General Statutory Items for Discussion 

(1) Definitions and key terms of contracting structures, including, but not limited to, tolling agreements and indexed credits, and whether they are used in other states; (5) Necessary or appropriate roles for the owner of an energy storage system selected in a procurement to, either directly or through a third-party administrator which may be an affiliate, be responsible for operation, maintenance, dispatch, and other operational functions of the energy storage system; 

(7) an assessment of whether a contract length different from 20 years is financeable, and whether other contract lengths would impact the net benefits of the storage procurement; 

(9) An analysis of whether 1,500 megawatts is the appropriate size for the initial procurement and whether additional procurements beyond August 2025 are valuable to Illinois taking into consideration the amount of projects in advanced stages of development and Illinois’ need for storage energy systems in order to ensure it can meet its clean energy goals and to prevent or minimize any anticipated resource adequacy shortfalls; 

(11) An assessment of the appropriate geographic location for the battery storage systems, including, but not limited to: (A) the geographic split of the megawatts of capacity of the energy storage resources procured pursuant to this initial procurement between those interconnected to the Midcontinent ISO, Inc. and PJM Interconnection, LLC; and (B) the potential benefits of Agenda Item procuring one or more projects within an area designated as an area of the State certified by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity as an Enterprise zone or Energy Transition Grant Community. How should energy storage resources be defined? 

Specific Targeted Discussion Questions Posited by Staff: 

For the purposes of the initial procurement, should we pursue an indexed storage credit approach, a tolling agreement approach, or another approach?

If we pursue an indexed storage credit approach, what should be in the “reference price” offset that is subtracted from the strike price? 

1. If we pursue an indexed storage credit approach, is a reference price offset sufficient to ensure the energy storage owner/operator operates the facility in a manner that provides benefit to ratepayers (e.g., provides capacity and charges/dispatches in a manner that smooths peaks)? 

(b) For purposes of the initial procurement, should we target specific types of storage? 

1. Should we target transmission interconnected storage? 
2. Should we specifically focus on lithium-ion batteries? 
3. Should we set minimum system size requirements such as requiring storage to be able to discharge at capacity for four or more hours and/or require discharge of 100 MW or more? 

(c) For purposes of this initial procurement, should there be location requirements or preferences? 

1. Should we target locations near generation or near load? 
2. Should we target locations near renewables, near existing fossil fuel generation, or near retired fossil fuel generation? 
3. Should we target a mix of rural vs. urban locations? 
4. Should we target locations in equity investment eligible communities, enterprise zones or energy transition grant communities? 
5. Should we target locating a specific percentage of facilities in MISO and PJM areas and, if so, what should be the split? 
6. Should we approach the initial procurement as a pilot and strive for diversity in locational preferences? 

(d) What projects or how much storage can realistically get through each of the RTO queues by 2029/2030? 

3. Closing and Next Steps