Illinois has taken its first concrete step toward building the giant batteries its power grid will need to run on more solar and wind energy, after state regulators wrapped up the inaugural procurement auction required under a sweeping new energy law.
The Illinois Power Agency, the independent state body that manages the state’s electricity procurement, ran the auction this summer under the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), which Governor JB Pritzker signed into law earlier this year. It was the first storage-specific procurement event held since the law took effect in June.
Regulators had set out to secure just over 1,000 megawatts of new energy storage capacity, split between the two grid operators that cover Illinois: roughly 450 megawatts for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) territory across central and southern Illinois, and about 588 megawatts for the PJM Interconnection footprint that includes ComEd’s northern Illinois service area.
The results came in at roughly 600 megawatts total — a little over half of the original target. MISO actually beat its goal, landing 520 megawatts from four separate projects, while the PJM side of the auction lagged well behind. Even so, industry observers and state officials have described the outcome as encouraging for a market this new, noting that first-time auctions in unfamiliar territory rarely hit their targets on the first attempt.
Why it matters for Illinois ratepayers
Battery storage is the piece that lets solar and wind power actually function as reliable, around-the-clock electricity sources. Without it, the grid can only use renewable power when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing — batteries let utilities bank that energy and release it later, including during evening demand peaks when prices and strain on the grid are highest.
The 600 megawatts secured in this round are expected to come online by 2030, adding storage capacity that industry estimates suggest could power roughly half a million homes — comparable to the output of a single mid-sized coal or natural gas plant, but without the emissions.
The timing lines up with a broader national shift. A recent industry analysis from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie found that combined solar-and-storage projects made up about 70% of all new electricity generating capacity added across the U.S. in the first half of 2026 — enough, by that estimate, to serve more than 50 million American homes.
What happens next
The auction is only the first of several planned under CRGA. This November, the Illinois Power Agency and other state regulators are due to submit an initial integrated resource plan, a formal process that will let officials review how the storage buildout is progressing and decide whether a second, larger procurement round is needed to make up the shortfall from this summer’s auction.
Illinois consumers are also starting to see movement on the residential side. Rooftop solar and home-battery installer SOLRITE Energy recently began operating in the state, part of a wave of companies entering Illinois’ market under new “virtual power plant” rules that let homeowners’ solar-and-battery systems feed power back into the grid in exchange for bill credits.
For a state that has set some of the most ambitious clean-power targets in the country, the first auction is being treated less as a finish line and more as a proof of concept — a signal that the financing, permitting, and interconnection pipeline for large-scale batteries can actually deliver projects, even if this round came up short of the original number.
Sources:
- Capitol News Illinois — “Huge step forward”: Illinois inches closer on battery storage, solar goals
- NPR Illinois — coverage of the CRGA battery storage procurement results
- Illinois Power Agency / SEIA-Wood Mackenzie U.S. solar-storage market report, cited via Shaw Local News Network