Data centers must match energy use hourly

Summary#

HB 5826 would create the Data Center Energy Accountability Act and amend the State Finance Act to add a state fund. Its stated goal is to require large data centers to match their electricity use with eligible energy certificates and support new clean-energy and storage resources. The bill has been introduced but is not law.

  • Covered data centers—facilities with a highest possible hourly electricity demand of at least 5 megawatts, unless the Illinois Power Agency sets otherwise—would have to report electricity use by hour and retire certificates equal to 100% of their annual Illinois electricity use, starting in compliance year 2028.
  • The required certificates would have to meet rules on eligible energy sources, location, age, and avoiding double counting. From 2030, data centers would also have to match eligible energy to use in each hour, with a 98% hourly-match threshold.
  • The share of certificates required from Illinois or, if the Agency approves, an adjacent state would rise from at least 45% in 2028 to 60% from 2030. Separate minimum shares of battery-discharge or geothermal credits would rise from 15% to 25%.
  • Data centers short of the requirements would generally have to make alternative payments: $100 per megawatt-hour shortfall in 2028–29, then $150 for certain hours and $200 for others from 2030, with a 1% annual increase after 2031. The Agency would run the resulting Electron Accelerator Fund and may use it to award money for eligible energy and storage projects.
  • The Illinois Power Agency would set rules, verify reports, and could charge fees or recover audit and consultant costs. If it considers a data center noncompliant, it must file a utility disconnection proceeding if it deems that appropriate; disconnection is not automatic.

What it means for you#

  • Covered data centers: Owners would have to notify the Agency upon interconnection, file annual reports, and meet the certificate requirements. From 2030, certificates generally must represent eligible energy generated, discharged, or leveraged in the same hour as the center’s use. Some existing contracts have limited exceptions to the certificate-age rule.
  • Covered data centers: If a center uses eligible energy included in its utility-delivered retail load, it must pay applicable state renewable-portfolio-standard charges. If it does not claim that retail load and otherwise complies, it is exempt from those charges.
  • Illinois Power Agency: The Agency must adopt implementation rules before compliance year 2028. It may approve tracking systems, set verification and enforcement rules, and decide whether to seek disconnection proceedings.
  • Other residents and businesses: The bill does not directly change household electricity bills, create a household benefit, or require other businesses to buy certificates. Whether data-center costs would affect others is not stated.

Money#

No public cost estimate is in the supplied materials.

  • Data centers could face certificate-procurement costs and must make payments for covered shortfalls at the rates set in the bill.
  • The Agency may charge annual participation fees and recover relevant audit and consultant costs from covered data centers.
  • Payments would go to the Electron Accelerator Fund. The Agency may open a competitive auction and award funds to eligible projects; the bill does not guarantee when auctions or awards will occur.
  • The bill gives no estimate of public administrative costs, data-center compliance costs, or fund revenue.

What is unclear#

  • The Agency may change some eligibility rules and define additional requirements for covered centers. The bill does not spell out all those rules or the process for setting them.
  • The bill does not set the amount of possible additional fines for failing to notify the Agency, or define what counts as “responsibly” complying when the Agency considers a disconnection proceeding.
  • The supplied materials do not include the current State Finance Act or current rules for data centers, so existing-law overlap cannot be verified.
  • It is unclear how much the Agency would charge in fees or how it would decide when the Fund has enough money to start an auction.

Case for#

  • Hourly accounting and the ban on double counting could make claims about a data center’s energy use more specific and verifiable.
  • The rising in-state and approved-adjacent-state requirements could direct more certificate demand toward nearby eligible resources.
  • The Fund could help finance new eligible energy and storage projects, while allowing the Agency to prioritize bids that offer more energy for the funding requested.

Case against#

  • Matching energy use hour by hour from 2030 is a demanding requirement, and the bill does not estimate whether enough eligible supply will be available or what it will cost.
  • The alternative-payment route may let a data center meet a shortfall without matching that energy directly; the bill does not predict how often that route would be used.
  • The Agency would have broad discretion over rules, fees, fund auctions, and some eligibility criteria, while key details are left for later.
  • The bill allows a disconnection proceeding for noncompliance, but does not set out a detailed process or say what happens before a proceeding is filed.