SB1474 Summary

• Amends the Illinois Power Agency Act to expand hydropower procurement by allowing utilities to procure renewable energy credits from newly modernized, retooled, or converted hydropower facilities at existing dams.

• Requires the Illinois Power Agency to consider approaches to procure renewable energy credits from new and existing hydropower facilities while exploring options to convert existing dams but prohibiting development of new dams where none previously existed.

• Prioritizes hydropower procurement projects located in designated environmental justice communities or in units of local government with median incomes not exceeding 82% of the state median income.

• Requires the Illinois Commerce Commission to develop a renewable energy access plan by December 31, 2022, including analysis of converting non-powered dams to hydropower facilities relative to other renewable energy alternatives.

• Updates definitions in the Illinois Power Agency Act to clarify hydropower as any method of electricity generation or storage resulting from water flow, including impoundment, diversion, and pumped storage facilities.