Soot to Solar

The report argues that accelerating the retirement of coal plants in Illinois, beyond the mandates of the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), would significantly improve public health and provide economic gains. Modeling shows that replacing coal with wind, solar, and energy storage is affordable and does not compromise grid reliability, as demonstrated by a case study of the Waukegan plant. The analysis highlights that pollution-burdened communities of color and low-income residents stand to benefit most from this transition.

• The Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) is projected to drive $3.4 billion in capital investments in renewable energy and $1.3 billion in energy efficiency improvements in Illinois, with total installed renewable capacity expected to exceed 8,890 MW by 2030.
• Accelerating the retirement of the Waukegan and Edwards coal plants before 2030 could avoid 431 premature deaths, 264 heart attacks, 178 asthma-related emergency room visits, 124 cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions, and 104 incidents of chronic bronchitis.
• The pre-2030 retirement of six Dynegy-Vistra units is estimated to avoid nearly 1,000 premature deaths, 592 heart attacks, 408 asthma emergency room visits, 278 cardiovascular and respiratory admissions, and 260 incidents of chronic bronchitis.
• Analysis of the Waukegan Generating Station indicates it can be retired without impacting grid reliability, as its generation can be replaced by equivalent generation within the 13 states served by the PJM grid operator.
• A utility-scale energy storage system (16 MW four-hour lithium-ion battery) at the Waukegan site is economically viable, with a projected net benefit of $4.8 million over 25 years, consisting of $12.1 million in capacity revenues and $6.9 million in avoided transmission costs against a $14.3 million capital cost.
• Combining solar energy with energy efficiency measures can significantly reduce household electricity costs in Waukegan, potentially saving a typical household $943 annually.
• The transition to clean energy under FEJA and additional coal retirements is projected to save typical Illinois households between $93 and $102 per year on electricity bills by 2030.
• Carbon emissions in Illinois are projected to be 33 percent below 2016 levels by 2030 under the Waukegan-Edwards retirement scenario and 51 percent below 2016 levels under the Dynegy-Vistra scenario.
• The Waukegan Generating Station is identified as the largest source of mercury and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in Lake County, Illinois.

APA

Baek, Y., Clemmer, S., Collingsworth, J., Garcia, P., Gignac, J., Kibbey, J., & Sattler, S. (2018). Soot to Solar. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/soot-solar-full-report.pdf

Chicago

Baek, Youngsun, Steve Clemmer, Jessica Collingsworth, Paula Garcia, James Gignac, J.C. Kibbey, and Sandra Sattler. Soot to Solar. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2018. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/soot-solar-full-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{baek2018soot, author = {Baek, Youngsun and Clemmer, Steve and Collingsworth, Jessica and Garcia, Paula and Gignac, James and Kibbey, J.C. and Sattler, Sandra}, title = {{Soot to Solar}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2018}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/soot-solar-full-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }