Representatives from Naperville’s current power provider, the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA) gave a presentation to the city’s Public Utilities Advisory Board (PUAB) on Thursday, Feb. 27, and outlined the organization’s services, resources, and sustainability goals, as it lobbied for an extension to its contract.
The municipal board is in its fact-finding stage as it explores a range of options concerning Naperville’s long-term power provider. A recommendation ultimately will be handed over to the decision-making city council when the review is completed.
IMEA seeks contract extension for power supply
While Naperville and IMEA remain locked in a contract for the next decade, IMEA has been asking the city to commit even longer into the future — through 2055 — by way of an extension to the existing agreement.
In a memo to the PUAB, Brian Groth, the city’s electric utility director, outlined the importance of thinking ahead, whether or not IMEA is a part of Naperville’s long-term power supply plans.
Groth also holds a position on IMEA’s Board of Directors as vice chairman.
“Planning to acquire adequate power to meet Naperville’s needs and operational and administrative services beyond (2035) is a multi-year effort,” Groth wrote in the memo. “This work includes a significant amount of information gathering and exploration of different power procurement options, as various options require a multi-year ramp-up of resources and strategic decisions to be made at appropriate times.”
Staci Wilson, IMEA’s vice president of government affairs and member services, also spoke to long-range commitments as she outlined the organization’s sustainable efforts, including a series of solar projects and meter battery storage infrastructure on member communities’ distribution systems.
“I think it’s important to note that most of these renewable projects are 20-year contracts,” Wilson said. “In order to enter into this, developers need certainty to borrow money. The only way that we could enter into this contract is if we had enough members sign up for this contract extension.”
Environmental advocates sound off
A group of local grassroots organizers, including groups affiliated with the Say No to Coal Consortium, have taken aim at IMEA and its contract extension proposal, citing the organization’s continued reliance of burning coal as an energy source. Several of those organizers spoke at the recent PUAB meeting.
“IMEA has a problem, and they want to make it our problem,” said Joe Hus, who is a member of the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force (NEST). “They’ve signed long-term deals with coal companies, and they have minority interest in coal plants.”
Ted Bourlard, co-chair of NEST, also spoke of IMEA’s use of coal as an energy source. Approximately 80% of the current supply is coal-derived.
“Unless, and until, we take action and readily transition off of fossil fuels, things will only get worse,” Bourlard said. “We truly care about the reliability of electricity supply. We should be working to reduce coal use, not locking ourselves into more of it.”
IMEA officials tout 2050 net-zero vision in presentation
During IMEA’s detailed presentation to the PUAB, Wilson outlined the organization’s 2050 net-zero vision document, which she said was assembled after a series of workgroup meetings and a vote from the IMEA’s own board that is comprised of the member communities.
“The idea behind that — the roadmap — is to target reductions in greenhouse gases,” Wilson said. “We’re going to do that by increasing our renewable generation resources, particularly as we have resource contracts falling offline.”
Other components of the 2050 roadmap, as outlined in the presentation, include an organizational structure that allows the flexibility to embrace changes in technology, such as battery storage, and continuing the advancement of electric vehicles and associated infrastructure.
Throughout the presentation, Wilson and other IMEA representatives also touched on the organization’s structure and mission statement.
“We are made up entirely of municipally owned utilities,” Wilson said. “We’re nonprofit, so everything we do is to serve municipal-owned utilities. We don’t serve anybody else. They’re our full-time customers.”
PUAB’s fact-finding mission to continue
The PUAB will continue to hone in on recommendations on Naperville’s power provider beyond 2035 at forthcoming meetings this spring. Representatives from Pennsylvania-based Customized Energy Solutions are due to present a report soon on the city’s options for powering its electric grid in the years ahead.
Louis Halkias, who chaired the recent PUAB meeting, spoke to his belief in the importance of gathering as much information possible before a recommendation is handed over to the city council.
“I’m hearing, and I’m still weighing, because I want to gather all of the evidence, and we’re still in an evidentiary gathering mode,” Halkias said. “Regardless of your position on this, I think it’s important for us to stay open-minded, for all of our options, and to see all of the evidence, prior to the time we make a recommendation on our side.”
If you have a story idea, we want to hear from you!
