HB5826: DATA CENTER ENERGY ACCOUNT

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
 State of Illinois
 2025 and 2026 HB5826 Introduced , by Rep. Jay Hoffman SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act 30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new Creates the Data Center Energy Accountability Act. Provides that, beginning in compliance year 2028, each covered data center shall account for its annual electricity demand on an hourly basis by reporting the volume of generation that was consumed in each year, month, day, and hour. Requires each covered data center to also self-generate, or procure, and then retire eligible environmental attribute certificates equal to 100% of the covered data center's annual State electricity consumption. Provides that eligible environmental attribute certificates that are retired in order to comply with the Act must have been produced by electric generation facilities and batteries that have a commercial operation date that is no more than 7 years older than the compliance year for which the environmental attribute certificates are retired. Sets forth tracking and verification requirements for the Illinois Power Agency. Provides that environmental attribute certificates shall not be eligible under the Act if the retirement of the environmental attribute certificates would result in the double counting or double claiming of otherwise eligible energy. Provides that, upon interconnection, the owner of a covered data center shall be required to notify the Agency of its status as a regulated facility pursuant to the requirements of the Act. Provides that, if a covered data center is unable to meet the requirements of the Act for a given compliance year, a covered data center shall make an alternative investment payment for each megawatt-hour shortfall in the applicable year. Creates the Electron Accelerator Fund as a special fund in the State treasury, to be administered by the Agency. Sets forth requirements for the Fund. Provides that, if deemed appropriate by the Agency, the Agency shall file a utility disconnection proceeding with the Commission if a covered data center does not responsibly comply with the Act. Sets forth rulemaking abilities for the Agency. Amends the State Finance Act to make a conforming change. Effective immediately. LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b A BILL FOR HB5826 LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 AN ACT concerning regulation. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Data 5 Center Energy Accountability Act. 6 Section 2. Findings. The General Assembly finds that: 7 (1) The constitution of the power grid is changing 8 rapidly. In this era of dramatic change, grid reliability 9 risks, energy affordability concerns, and environmental 10 hazards have escalated. 11 (2) Any data center with an information technology load 12 greater than or equal to 5 megawatts must construct, generate, 13 or procure enough carbon-free energy to meet the data center's 14 energy demand. 15 Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: 16 "Agency" means the Illinois Power Agency. 17 "Applicable grid region" means an independent system 18 operator's or regional transmission organization's subregion 19 from which a covered data center may procure energy and 20 eligible environmental attribute certificates in order to 21 satisfy the requirements of this Act. 22 (1) For covered data centers physically located in the HB5826 - 2 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 region of the PJM Interconnection, LLC., "applicable grid 2 region" means the PJM control zones currently known as 3 ComEd (COMED), American Electric Power Co., Inc. (AEP), 4 Dayton Power and Light Company (DAY), Ohio Valley Electric 5 Corporation (OVEC), Duke Energy Ohio/Kentucky (DEO), East 6 Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), American Transmission 7 Systems, Inc. (ATSI), Allegheny Power Company (APS), and 8 Duquesne Light Co. (DLCO) and any electric cooperative or 9 municipal utility that is physically interconnected to the 10 PJM Interconnection, LLC. and located within the borders 11 of such a PJM control zone. 12 (2) For covered data centers physically located in the 13 Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region, 14 "applicable grid region" means MISO's Local Resource Zones 15 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and any electric cooperative or 16 municipal utility that is physically interconnected to 17 MISO and located within the borders of such a local 18 resource zone. 19 "Battery discharge credits" means environmental attribute 20 certificates that represent the discharge of stored eligible 21 energy generation. 22 "CleanCounts" means the environmental attribute 23 certificate tracking system, or a successor platform, approved 24 by the Agency for the tracking, retirement, and auditing of 25 EACs produced by facilities in the MISO region. 26 "Commercial operation date", when used in reference to HB5826 - 3 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 electric generating facilities, battery facilities, or 2 geothermal heating and cooling systems, means the date when 3 commissioning tests have been completed, to the extent 4 applicable, and the facility has been energized and starts to 5 generate power, discharge power, or leverage geothermal 6 energy. 7 "Commission" means the Illinois Commerce Commission. 8 "Compliance year" means any consecutive 12-month period of 9 time, as determined by the Agency, upon which compliance with 10 this Act will be measured. 11 "Covered data center" means a State-sited facility 12 primarily used to house networked computer servers for which 13 the highest possible hourly electricity demand from the 14 facility is equal to 5 megawatts or greater, unless otherwise 15 specified by the Agency. 16 "Deliverability" means the geographic qualification 17 criteria for the physical delivery of electric power and the 18 environmental attributes of such power. 19 "Double claiming" means when (i) one entity makes a fuel 20 source, generation, consumption, emissions, or attribute claim 21 substantiated by an unbundled environmental attribute 22 certificate retirement, and (ii) a separate entity makes a 23 fuel source, generation, consumption, emissions, or attribute 24 claim about the same physical energy represented by the 25 environmental attribute certificate, but that is substantiated 26 by data other than the environmental attribute certificate HB5826 - 4 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 retirement, resulting in 2 distinct datasets that reflect the 2 same claim being used to substantiate 2 separate energy or 3 emissions claims. 4 "Double counting" means a situation in which 2 or more 5 separate entities use the same environmental attribute 6 certificate to make separate energy generation, consumption, 7 or attribute claims. 8 "Eligible energy" means electricity generated by wind, 9 solar, hydropower, geothermal, or nuclear resources. "Eligible 10 energy" includes the discharge of electricity generated by 11 wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, or nuclear resources by 12 battery resources and any geothermal energy leveraged by 13 geothermal heating and cooling systems. 14 "Eligible environmental attribute certificate" means a 15 serialized accounting instrument expressed in megawatt-hours, 16 or sub-megawatt-hours to the extent practicable and permitted 17 by the Agency, representing eligible energy that is 18 registered, exchanged, and retired on an Agency-approved 19 tracking system and that meets all of the requirements of this 20 Act. "Eligible environmental attribute certificate" includes 21 renewable energy credits, geothermal renewable energy credits, 22 nuclear energy credits, battery discharge credits, alternative 23 energy credits, and zero-emission credits that represent 24 eligible energy. 25 "Geothermal heating and cooling system" means a system 26 that meets all of the following requirements: HB5826 - 5 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 (1) the system exchanges thermal energy from 2 groundwater or a shallow ground source to generate or 3 leverage thermal energy through an electric geothermal 4 heat pump or a system of electric geothermal heat pumps 5 interconnected with any geothermal extraction facility 6 that is: 7 (A) a closed loop or a series of closed loop 8 systems in which fluid is permanently confined within 9 a pipe or tubing and does not come in contact with the 10 outside environment; or 11 (B) an open loop system in which ground or surface 12 water is circulated in an environmentally safe manner 13 directly into the facility and returned to the same 14 aquifer or surface water source; 15 (2) to the extent applicable and practicable, the 16 system meets or exceeds federal Energy Star product 17 specification standards for geothermal heat pumps 18 established on January 1, 2012, as clarified by the 19 Environmental Protection Agency guidance document released 20 on February 28, 2012 entitled Clarification to the 21 Geothermal Heat Pump Verification Testing Requirements and 22 Basic Model Group Definition, or any successor standards 23 that meet or exceed these standards; 24 (3) the system replaces or displaces less efficient 25 space or water heating systems, regardless of fuel type; 26 (4) the system replaces or displaces less efficient HB5826 - 6 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 space cooling systems, when applicable; and 2 (5) the system does not feed electricity back to the 3 grid, as determined at the level of the geothermal heat 4 pump. 5 "Geothermal renewable energy credit" means an 6 environmental attribute certificate derived from geothermal 7 heating and cooling systems expressed in megawatt-hours, or 8 sub-megawatt-hours as practicable and permitted by the Agency. 9 "Granular certificate" or "hourly EAC" means an 10 environmental attribute certificate with a unique 11 identification number carrying the relevant attributes of 12 energy produced during a period of one hour or less, including 13 the source, location, and technology of the produced energy, 14 the production device commercial operation date, and a 15 timestamp for the start and end of the generation interval. 16 "Nuclear energy credit" means an environmental attribute 17 certificate derived from nuclear energy resources, including 18 both fission and fusion processes, that are physically located 19 in this State. "Nuclear energy credit" includes nuclear-based 20 zero-emission credits on PJM-GATS or nuclear-based alternative 21 energy credits on CleanCounts. "Nuclear energy credit" does 22 not include an environmental attribute certificate derived 23 from nuclear energy resources outside of this State. 24 "Owner of a covered data center" means the legal entity, 25 persons, or person that: 26 (1) possesses a majority ownership share in a physical HB5826 - 7 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 facility meeting the definition of "covered data center" 2 in this Act; and 3 (2) is responsible for compliance with this Act. 4 "PJM-GATS" means the PJM Environmental Information 5 Services Generation Attribute Tracking System for 6 environmental attribute certificates or a successor platform 7 approved by the Agency for tracking, retirement, and auditing 8 of EACs produced in the PJM Interconnection, LLC region. 9 "Qualifying legacy contract" means a contract that is 10 fully executed prior to December 31, 2028 and that is one of 11 the following: 12 (1) a fully executed and binding contract for a 13 bundled power purchase agreement meeting the 14 deliverability requirements in subsections (a) and (b) of 15 Section 15; or 16 (2) a fully executed and binding contract for 17 unbundled eligible environmental attribute certificates 18 meeting the deliverability requirements in subsections (a) 19 and (b) of Section 15 and the temporality requirements in 20 subsection (d) of Section 15. 21 "Renewable energy credit" means an eligible environmental 22 attribute certificate that is derived from wind, solar, 23 hydropower, or geothermal energy. 24 "Repowered project" means a project featuring the removal, 25 replacement, or expansion of individual turbines or generators 26 at an existing project site that is completed after the HB5826 - 8 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 effective date of this Act. 2 "Temporality" means the data qualities that document the 3 year, month, day, and hour of electricity generation. 4 Section 10. Credits; qualification under this Act. 5 (a) Battery discharge credits (BDCs) shall only account 6 for the environmental attributes of eligible energy discharged 7 by a battery during a given hour. BDCs shall be derived from 8 metered battery discharge data and shall be expressed in 9 megawatt-hours, or sub-megawatt-hours to the extent 10 practicable and permitted by the Agency. Unless otherwise 11 specified by the Agency, BDCs eligible for use under this Act 12 must be temporally matched with generation-based eligible 13 environmental attribute certificates (EACs). Pursuant to 14 eligible BDC production, generation-based eligible EACs shall 15 represent the battery's charge with eligible energy as 16 produced by eligible generation facilities located within the 17 battery's own applicable grid region. The temporally matched 18 generation-based EAC shall be cancelled upon the creation of a 19 corresponding BDC in order to avoid double claiming. Both the 20 BDC and the temporally matched generation-based EAC shall meet 21 all of the requirements in this Act. Any energy losses 22 incurred during charge, storage, and discharge of electrical 23 energy shall be calculated using metered data and applied 24 evenly across all energy charged, stored, and discharged from 25 the battery. There shall never be more energy represented by HB5826 - 9 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 eligible EACs earmarked to be assigned to BDCs than physical 2 electrical energy contained within the battery at any given 3 time. 4 (b) Repowered projects shall have a commercial operation 5 date that is concomitant with completion of the repowering 6 project, when the repowered facility or repowered individual 7 units have been reenergized and begin to generate power, 8 discharge power, or leverage geothermal energy. Only 9 environmental attribute certificates representing the 10 incremental generation produced by individual generator units 11 that have been repowered after the effective date of this Act 12 and that meet all of the requirements of this Act shall qualify 13 for compliance with this Act. 14 (c) Other than geothermal renewable energy credits (GRECs) 15 produced by geothermal heating and cooling systems and BDCs 16 that qualify under this Act, all eligible EACs that qualify 17 for compliance with this Act must represent electricity 18 generation, unless otherwise specified by the Agency. 19 (d) GREC calculation shall correspond with the 20 Agency-approved methodology that is used for the Geothermal 21 Homes and Businesses Program, unless otherwise specified by 22 the Agency. 23 (e) Nuclear energy credits (NECs) must exclusively 24 represent electricity generation in megawatt-hours, or 25 sub-megawatt-hours to the extent practicable and permitted by 26 the Agency, and the State-sited generating facility must meet HB5826 - 10 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 all of the requirements of this Act. 2 Section 15. Procurement and accounting framework; 3 resources, deliverability, and temporality. 4 (a) Beginning in compliance year 2028, each covered data 5 center shall account for its annual electricity demand on an 6 hourly basis by reporting the volume of generation that was 7 consumed in each year, month, day, and hour. Each covered data 8 center shall also self-generate, or procure, and then retire 9 eligible environmental attribute certificates (EACs) equal to 10 100% of the covered data center's annual State electricity 11 consumption. 12 (1) For compliance year 2028, at least 45% of the 13 year's requirement shall be met with the retirement of 14 eligible EACs produced by eligible energy facilities 15 physically located in this State or located in an adjacent 16 state if the Agency determines that an otherwise eligible 17 resource, including storage and geothermal heating and 18 cooling systems, located in the adjacent state supports 19 the health, safety, and welfare of residents of this 20 State, in line with the public interest criteria in 21 subparagraph (I) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of 22 Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. At least 23 15% of the year's requirement shall be met with the 24 retirement of battery discharge credits (BDCs) or 25 geothermal renewable energy credits (GRECs) produced by HB5826 - 11 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 eligible resources physically located in this State, or in 2 an adjacent state if the Agency determines that such 3 resources located in an adjacent state support the public 4 interest criteria of subparagraph (I) of paragraph (1) of 5 subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power 6 Agency Act. 7 (2) For compliance year 2029, at least 50% of the 8 year's requirement shall be met with retirements of 9 eligible EACs produced by eligible energy facilities 10 physically located in this State or located in an adjacent 11 state if the Agency determines that an otherwise eligible 12 resource, including storage and geothermal heating and 13 cooling systems, located in the adjacent state supports 14 the health, safety, and welfare of residents of this 15 State, in line with the public interest criteria in 16 subparagraph (I) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of 17 Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. At least 18 20% of the year's requirement shall be met with the 19 retirement of BDCs or GRECs produced by eligible resources 20 physically located in this State, or in an adjacent state 21 if the Agency determines that such resources located in an 22 adjacent state support the public interest criteria of 23 subparagraph (I) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of 24 Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. 25 (3) For compliance year 2030 and each compliance year 26 thereafter, at least 60% of the annual requirement shall HB5826 - 12 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 be met with retirements of eligible EACs produced by 2 eligible energy facilities physically located in this 3 State or located in an adjacent state if the Agency 4 determines that an otherwise eligible resource, including 5 storage and geothermal heating and cooling systems, 6 located in the adjacent state supports the health, safety, 7 and welfare of residents of this State, in line with the 8 public interest criteria in subparagraph (I) of paragraph 9 (1) of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois 10 Power Agency Act. At least 25% of the year's requirement 11 shall be met with retirements of BDCs or GRECs produced by 12 eligible resources physically located in this State, or in 13 an adjacent state if the Agency determines that such 14 resources located in an adjacent state support the public 15 interest criteria of subparagraph (I) of paragraph (1) of 16 subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power 17 Agency Act. 18 (b) In addition to the requirements of subsection (a), a 19 covered data center's compliance requirement shall be met by 20 the retirements of eligible EACs produced by eligible energy 21 facilities that are physically interconnected and located in 22 the applicable grid region. An eligible energy facility shall 23 be considered located within an applicable grid region if the 24 facility can provide documentation of interconnection with the 25 applicable grid region, as authorized and approved by the 26 Agency. Proof of interconnection shall be established using HB5826 - 13 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 Schedule 2 of Form EIA-860, as practicable and unless 2 otherwise directed by the Agency. 3 (c) For compliance years before compliance year 2030, all 4 eligible energy represented by eligible EACs that were retired 5 in order to comply with this Act must have been generated, 6 discharged, or leveraged within the same year as, or one year 7 prior to, the year for which the data center is making a 8 compliance claim. 9 (d) For compliance year 2030 and each compliance year 10 thereafter, each covered data center shall account for its 11 annual electricity demand on an hourly basis by reporting the 12 volume of generation that was consumed by the data center in 13 each year, month, day, and hour. Each covered data center 14 shall also self-generate, or procure, and then retire eligible 15 EACs equal to its annual State electricity consumption on an 16 hourly basis and match each hour's total electricity usage 17 with eligible EACs that represent eligible energy generated, 18 discharged, or leveraged during the same hour, day, month, and 19 year. 20 Data centers shall file compliance reports pursuant to 21 this Act with the Agency on an annual basis. The Agency may use 22 existing or new consultants in support of the compliance 23 process, including qualified third-party auditors for the 24 purposes of ensuring that covered data centers accurately 25 report hourly energy generation, consumption, and EAC 26 retirement to the Agency. Relevant costs for third-party HB5826 - 14 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 auditors and consultants may be recovered from participating 2 covered data centers, at the discretion of the Agency. 3 Hourly data shall be substantiated using either: 4 (1) retirements of granular certificates, or hourly 5 EACs, that include hourly temporal data on an approved EAC 6 tracking registry or approved granular certificate module; 7 or 8 (2) a document submitted to the Agency, such as a 9 spreadsheet or a report from an hourly attribute platform, 10 containing metered generation data for eligible energy 11 that fully corresponds to the covered data center's 12 on-registry EAC retirements, accounted for on an hourly 13 basis at minimum. 14 Hourly generation data shall, at minimum, include 15 timestamps, the type of energy generated, and the name of the 16 facility for each hour of generation. 17 (e) Eligible EACs that are retired in order to comply with 18 this Act must have been produced by electric generation 19 facilities and batteries that have a commercial operation date 20 that is no more than 7 years older than the compliance year for 21 which the EACs are retired. Unless otherwise specified by the 22 Agency, proof of an electric generation facility's commercial 23 operation date shall be established using Schedule 3 of Form 24 EIA-860, as practicable and unless otherwise directed by the 25 Agency. 26 Energy claimed by a covered data center pursuant to a HB5826 - 15 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 qualifying legacy contract shall be exempted from the 2 requirements under this subsection (e) until compliance year 3 2038 or until the termination of the qualifying legacy 4 contract, whichever comes first. However, at no time shall any 5 legacy contract result in an exemption under this subsection 6 (e) if the legacy contract is for EACs produced by a facility 7 that began commercial operations on a date that is at least 37 8 months before the effective date of this Act. 9 Upon the effective date of this Act, EACs originating from 10 a fully executed contract may qualify for compliance with this 11 Act for the length of the original contract term or for 25 12 years, whichever comes first, so long as (i) the contract is 13 for eligible EACs representing energy generated by a facility 14 that is no more than 7 years older than the full execution date 15 of the contract, and (ii) the EACs meet all other requirements 16 of this Act, including the deliverability and temporality 17 requirements under this Section. 18 For geothermal heating and cooling systems, GRECs retired 19 in compliance with this Act must have been produced by systems 20 that became operational no more than 5 years before the 21 effective date of this Act. 22 (f) In order to meet the requirements of this Act, in no 23 year may any covered data center use nuclear energy credits to 24 account for more than 33% of any hour of the covered data 25 center's State electricity consumption. 26 (g) A covered data center may claim delivery of power from HB5826 - 16 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 an eligible energy generation facility located in the 2 applicable grid region in which the covered data center is not 3 located if hourly nodal or zonal locational marginal 4 electricity prices are published at the points of both 5 generation and consumption and the covered data center 6 demonstrates that the average price at the point of 7 consumption is less than 0.99 times the average price at the 8 point of generation in the hour for which a claim is made. For 9 a covered data center located in MISO, the covered data center 10 may claim power from the applicable grid region for PJM if 11 hourly nodal or zonal locational marginal electricity prices 12 meet the criteria outlined in this subsection (g). For a 13 covered data center located in PJM, the data center may claim 14 power from the applicable grid region for MISO if hourly nodal 15 or zonal locational marginal electricity prices meet the 16 criteria in this subsection (g). 17 (h) Unless otherwise specified by the Agency, the eligible 18 portion of the retail customer load that is delivered to a 19 covered data center by a distribution utility subject to the 20 laws of this State may satisfy the requirements of this Act 21 only up to the annualized percentage of eligible energy 22 delivered to the covered data center, subject to the 23 following: 24 (1) The covered data center must pay all applicable 25 utility bill charges related to the State's renewable 26 portfolio standard. HB5826 - 17 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 (2) The annualized percentage of eligible energy 2 included in retail customer load must be accounted for by 3 the covered data center's distribution utility only with 4 eligible EAC retirements made exclusively on behalf of the 5 utility's customers. 6 (3) The annualized eligible energy percentage of 7 retail load claimed by a covered data center must be 8 equally apportioned across all hours of the data center's 9 electricity consumption, and the percentage of eligible 10 retail load claimed in any given hour can never exceed the 11 annualized percentage of eligible retail load delivered in 12 a year. 13 If a covered data center does not claim its retail 14 customer load pursuant to the requirements of this Act but 15 otherwise complies with this Act, the covered data center 16 shall be exempted from all applicable utility bill charges 17 related to the State's renewable portfolio standard. 18 (i) Unless otherwise specified by the Agency, EACs 19 representing eligible energy generated in this State must 20 originate from facilities that meet all labor and equity 21 requirements that would otherwise apply to a similarly sized 22 and similarly located project under the renewable portfolio 23 standard. Such requirements include adherence to the minimum 24 equity standards established under subsections (c-10), (c-15), 25 (c-20), (c-25), and (c-30) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois 26 Power Agency Act, prevailing wage requirements, and prevailing HB5826 - 18 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 wage exemptions, as applicable, and include the requirement 2 that any facility sized 5 megawatts or greater must have 3 entered into a project labor agreement prior to construction. 4 Section 20. Tracking and verification. 5 (a) Covered data centers shall comply with this Act 6 through the retirement of eligible environmental attribute 7 certificates (EACs). 8 (b) The Agency shall approve the use of PJM-GATS and 9 CleanCounts for the issuance, transfer, banking, and 10 retirement of eligible EACs for covered data centers. The 11 Agency may approve the use of alternative EAC tracking systems 12 and approved third-party granular certificate modules for 13 future compliance years. 14 (c) The Agency may develop verification requirements, 15 consumer protection rules, and enforcement measures to ensure 16 that all covered data centers responsibly comply with this 17 Act. Verification shall, at minimum, include the covered data 18 center's annual submission of the following information: 19 (1) prior-year State electricity consumption in 20 megawatt-hours; 21 (2) an itemized spreadsheet of eligible EAC 22 retirements for each year of compliance with this Act; and 23 (3) any alternative investment payments made. 24 (d) Notwithstanding the EAC eligibility criteria described 25 in this Act, EACs shall not be eligible under this Act if the HB5826 - 19 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 retirement of the EACs would result in the double counting or 2 double claiming of otherwise eligible energy. 3 (1) Eligible EACs retired by, or on behalf of, covered 4 data centers in order to comply with this Act only qualify 5 for compliance with this Act if the EACs have not been 6 retired on any tracking system, carbon registry, or other 7 accounting mechanism for any other purpose. Pursuant to 8 subsection (h) of Section 15, eligible retail customer 9 load that is delivered to a covered data center may 10 qualify toward the covered data center's compliance with 11 this Act only if the distribution utility retired eligible 12 EACs for the retail load on behalf of its customers, 13 including the covered data center. 14 (2) An eligible EAC retired by, or on behalf of, a 15 covered data center in order to comply with this Act only 16 qualifies for compliance with this Act if the EAC, and its 17 underlying electricity or geothermal energy, has not been 18 used to substantiate an energy generation or energy usage 19 claim, of any type and at any time, by any other entity 20 that is not the covered data center, whether or not the EAC 21 itself was actually retired on a tracking system, 22 registry, or other accounting mechanism at the time of the 23 claim. An ineligible EAC includes an EAC for which the EAC 24 itself or the attributes of the EAC's underlying energy, 25 such as electricity sourced from an independent power 26 producer or a utility's Standard Supply Service HB5826 - 20 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 unaccompanied by EAC retirements, has been claimed by a 2 utility or third party in the form of marketing, customer 3 communications, regulatory reporting, or environmental 4 reporting or has been otherwise claimed in a regulatory 5 program by an obligated entity that is not the covered 6 data center's distribution utility, including, but not 7 limited to, a renewable portfolio standard or carbon-free 8 standard. 9 (3) An eligible EAC is valid only if it is claimed once 10 by the covered data center and if no additional or 11 alternative claims have been made concerning the EAC's 12 underlying electricity or geothermal energy. The 13 requirements of this paragraph (3) also apply to hourly 14 accounting beginning with compliance year 2030. 15 Section 25. Enforcement and Electron Accelerator Fund. 16 (a) Upon interconnection, the owner of a covered data 17 center shall be required to notify the Agency of its status as 18 a regulated facility pursuant to the requirements of this Act. 19 The Agency may, at its discretion, request supporting 20 documentation from the distribution utility serving the 21 covered data center. If an owner of a covered data center fails 22 to notify the Agency of its status pursuant to this Section, 23 the owner of the covered data center may be subject to 24 additional fines and penalties, as determined by the Agency. 25 Compliance with this Act shall be reported at the individual HB5826 - 21 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 facility level; however, an owner of multiple covered data 2 centers in the same utility service territory may, for 3 reporting purposes, aggregate the hourly load of all of its 4 covered data centers within the same service territory and 5 report to the Agency in a single, annual compliance filing, as 6 specified by the Agency. 7 (b) If a covered data center is unable to meet the 8 requirements of this Act for a given compliance year, a 9 covered data center shall make an alternative investment 10 payment for each megawatt-hour shortfall in the applicable 11 year. The alternative investment payment shall satisfy a 12 covered data center's compliance requirements under this Act 13 for the megawatt-hour shortfall that the payment is intended 14 to cover, subject to the following criteria: 15 (1) If, during compliance years 2028 and 2029, a 16 covered data center is unable to meet its obligations 17 under this Act, or if the cost to comply with this Act 18 exceeds $100 per megawatt-hour, a covered data center 19 shall make an alternative investment payment equal to $100 20 for each megawatt-hour shortfall in the year, unless 21 otherwise specified by the Agency. 22 (2) If, during compliance year 2030 and each 23 compliance year thereafter, a covered data center is 24 unable to meet its hourly matching obligations under this 25 Act for demand hours occurring before noon in Central 26 Time, or if the cost to comply with this Act for the hours HB5826 - 22 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 occurring before noon in Central Time exceeds $150 per 2 megawatt-hour, a covered data center shall make an 3 alternative investment payment equal to $150 for each 4 megawatt-hour shortfall in the year, unless otherwise 5 specified by the Agency. 6 (3) If, during compliance years 2030 and each 7 compliance year thereafter, a covered data center is 8 unable to meet its hourly matching obligations under this 9 Act for demand hours occurring after noon in Central Time, 10 or if the cost to comply with this Act for the hours 11 occurring after noon in Central Time exceeds $200 per 12 megawatt-hour, a covered data center shall be obligated to 13 make an alternative investment payment equal to $200 for 14 each megawatt-hour shortfall in the year, unless otherwise 15 specified by the Agency. 16 After compliance year 2031, the amount of any alternative 17 investment payment shall increase by 1% annually, unless 18 otherwise specified by the Agency. 19 (c) Any alternative investment payments made by a covered 20 data center shall be deposited into a dedicated Electron 21 Accelerator Fund, created as a special fund in the State 22 treasury and administered by the Agency, that is dedicated to 23 accelerating the buildout of new clean energy and storage 24 resources to reliably meet demand. The Fund shall have the 25 following attributes: 26 (1) Upon the accumulation of sufficient alternative HB5826 - 23 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 investments, the Agency may, at its discretion, open a 2 competitive auction process in which any covered data 3 center may submit a bid at its maximum willingness to pay 4 for eligible energy resources that can reasonably be 5 expected to generate, discharge, or leverage sufficient 6 eligible energy to match the covered data center's bid-in 7 electricity demand for at least 90% of hours per year and 8 that meet all other requirements of this Act. A covered 9 data center's bid-in electricity demand may be an hourly 10 proportion of a covered data center's total electricity 11 demand. In the auction process, suppliers may bid-in at 12 their minimum price required to build and supply energy 13 resources, and the Agency shall evaluate the price 14 differentials between all proposed buyer and seller 15 offers. Any matches with a price differential may receive 16 awards from the Fund, and the Agency shall prioritize 17 funding the smallest differentials first to maximize 18 program efficiency. When price differentials are 19 substantially similar between multiple offer matches, 20 awards from the Fund shall be distributed to matches that 21 include a supply offer with the greater hourly eligible 22 energy production potential. The Agency may further 23 specify or amend the auction process under this subsection 24 (c), as the Agency deems appropriate. 25 (2) Fund awards shall only be awarded to eligible 26 energy facilities and energy storage that are physically HB5826 - 24 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 located in this State or located in an adjacent state if 2 the Agency determines that an otherwise eligible resource 3 located in the adjacent state supports the health, safety, 4 and welfare of residents of this State, in line with the 5 public interest criteria of paragraph (1) of subsection 6 (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. 7 Awards from the Fund shall only go to facilities that meet 8 all labor and equity requirements that would otherwise 9 apply to a similarly sized and similarly located project 10 under the renewable portfolio standard. 11 (d) A covered data center that has achieved 98% hourly 12 matching or greater shall be considered to have satisfied the 13 hourly matching requirements in subsection (d) of Section 15, 14 so long as the non-hourly matched difference is matched with 15 eligible environmental attribute certificates (EACs) that meet 16 all other requirements in this Act. 17 (e) If deemed appropriate by the Agency, the Agency shall 18 file a utility disconnection proceeding with the Commission if 19 a covered data center does not responsibly comply with this 20 Act, including, but not limited to, compliance with Section 15 21 or the alternative compliance pathway outlined in subsection 22 (b) of this Section. 23 Section 30. Administration. 24 (a) The Agency shall adopt rules for the implementation of 25 this Act before the beginning of compliance year 2028. The HB5826 - 25 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 Agency may adopt rules establishing additional qualifying 2 criteria for covered data centers. 3 (b) The Agency shall strive to minimize administrative 4 expenses in the implementation and regulation of activities 5 related to this Act. The Agency may use any existing program 6 administrator and any applicable subcontractors to develop, 7 administer, implement, operate, and evaluate any or all 8 activities and reporting related to this Act. If deemed 9 necessary by the Agency, the Agency may charge an annual 10 participation fee from covered data centers to cover any 11 expenses related to the administration and regulation of 12 activities related to this Act. 13 (c) The Agency and any consultant of the Agency shall 14 monitor activity related to this Act. The Agency and its 15 consultant or consultants may share program activity with 16 external stakeholders and conduct quarterly meetings to 17 discuss activity and market conditions related to this Act. 18 (d) If a complaint received by the Agency implicates the 19 jurisdiction of the Attorney General, the Commission, or any 20 local, State, or federal law enforcement, the Agency shall 21 refer the complaint to the appropriate entity. 22 Section 95. The State Finance Act is amended by adding 23 Section 5.1038 as follows: 24 (30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new) HB5826 - 26 - LRB104 23513 AAS 39993 b 1 Sec. 5.1038. The Electron Accelerator Fund. 2 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 3 becoming law.