ROCHELLE — Negotiations are back underway at the state level regarding the Prairie State Energy Campus, which the City of Rochelle has $150 million in debt with until the coal plant is paid off in 2042. 

Earlier this summer, the city held a press conference to urge the public to reach out to state legislators as it seemed an energy bill could close the plant earlier than expected in 2035. The city buys a large portion of its power from Prairie State and bought into the plant in 2007. City officials said at that press conference that the plant closing early would be “financially devastating.”

“We've been having meetings again,” Fiegenschuh said. “We think they're going to try to get a bill out. It's pretty convoluted. The governor is really pushing for Prairie State to close in 2035. We're hoping we can keep that facility open beyond 2042. I can't really give you a good answer because you hear different things all the time. I can tell you there are still negotiations going on and we're hopeful.”

Fiegenschuh also has concerns about what Prairie State’s power output would be replaced with. The plant’s 1,600 megawatts of power being taken offline will increase costs, he said. The city would also have to pay for its part of the plant’s decommissioning. 

“We have to pay to decommission and close the plant, you're going to look at rate increases,” Fiegenschuh said. “I've seen numbers that if it closes in 2035, you could see up to 30 percent rate increases on not just the City of Rochelle, but on municipalities that are part of that co-op.”

Fiegenschuh said the city has hired a lobbyist through the Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency and also retained a lobbyist for the city to work to keep Prairie State open. People are working directly with state senators on the city’s behalf. 

If Prairie State were to close early, the city wouldn’t have to make decisions for years due to a potential closure still being 14 years away. It would have to plan on replacing 30 megawatts of base load power. 

A shift towards green energy is part of the state’s potential plan. Fiegenschuh said the city is supportive of solar, wind and other clean energy sources and is looking at doing more solar in town in the future. 

One location the city is looking at adding solar panels to is the Rochelle Landfill. It also buys power from a methane burning power plant at that location. Right now it generates about 2.5 megawatts of power that comes directly onto Rochelle’s system. 

“I think we're going to see that thing get to its max of four megawatts of power,” Fiegenschuh said. “I bring that up because we have renewables already and we're going to have to look at bringing in more. Are there ways we can expand that plant out there to get more power out of it? More solar. When we build a new substation should we look at putting some wind turbines up? I think there are a lot of options.” 

Another issue in a potential energy bill related to the city and area is the potential for Exelon’s Byron Nuclear Plant to close. Plant officials plan to close in September if state intervention is not made in an energy bill and final steps have been taken to close. 

Fiegenschuh said the Byron plant closing won’t directly affect Rochelle Municipal Utilities’ rates as it does not buy power from the plant. Rochelle actually does get most of its energy from Byron, but that’s not the company it pays to get it. The electrons from Prairie State in southern Marissa, Illinois don’t make it this far north. 

While it’s not a taxing body that receives property tax money from the Byron plant and not under contract to buy its power, Rochelle still will be impacted by its potential closure. 

“First of all, you have the obvious loss economically,” Fiegenschuh said. “Where around here are you going to get jobs of $100,000 a year or more like out there? How are you going to replace that? I think the economic impact for the county is going to be devastating. Heavily devastating. More importantly, my concern is where are they going to make up that 2,000 megawatts of power they produce?” 

As far as the Byron plant, the governor has most recently offered about $694 million in subsidies over five years to three nuclear plants in an effort to keep them profitable. 

Language filed downstate Monday would require Prairie State to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2040 and municipal coal plants would be required to attain 105 percent carbon emission reduction by 2045 through use of carbon sequestration and/or direct air capture.

The bill states the plant must capture 95 percent of its own carbon emissions through sequestration or plant retirement, while the remaining carbon reduction would be accomplished through direct air carbon capture or any other available technology proven to directly remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It’s unclear when a vote on a new energy bill will take place that will decide the fates of Byron and Prairie State. 

“It's a pretty complex process,” Fiegenschuh said. “We continue to press our cause and again whenever they close it, we'll have to start planning how we replace that power. How do we pay for it, and we'll start talking about that in the next couple years."