SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Clean Jobs Coalition and Illinois House Democrats supported a new bill that would help to increase renewable energy production and storage in the state.

With lawmakers facing a new challenge in data centers and AI requiring record levels of power, the plan would force those companies to produce 100% of the power required for the new technologies. The energy would have to be renewable only and does not count nuclear energy.

Gov. JB Pritzker said he wants Illinois to become a hub for quantum energy. These new guardrails, if passed into law, could scare businesses from setting up shop in the state.

“That is not our intention,” Kady McFadden spokesperson for Clean Jobs Coalition said. “Recognizing the additional load that these sectors bring and mandating that they bring that in and to do so in a way that’s in line with our already existing clean energy laws and not raising the price for consumers is a really fair operating space.”

Currently, Illinois relies heavily on nuclear energy, producing over 98 million megawatts a year. Because of this, and the support of wind and natural gas, Illinois is a net exporter of energy. However, with data centers and AI requiring so much energy, the state could struggle to keep the grid online in the near future.

State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) at a different press conference said now is the time to take action.

“We’re good right now we’re going to be good next year, but where are we going to be in 2030?”Cunningham said. 

The House bill has not been assigned to a committee yet, but the Senate bill has been assigned to the Energy and Public Utilities committee, where lawmakers could talk about it in the coming weeks.

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