Overview

Resources and Consumption

Illinois estimated recoverable coal reserves rank third in the United States, behind Montana and Wyoming. Coal deposits, as well as smaller deposits of oil and gas, are concentrated in the Illinois Basin, which underlies much of the southern and eastern parts of the State. In addition to fossil fuel reserves, Illinois has high ethanol potential as its production of corn, which is the primary feedstock for U.S. ethanol production, ranks second in the country behind Iowa. Illinois is one of the Nation’s top energy-consuming States, primarily due to its large population and high demand from the industrial sector, which includes the energy-intensive aluminum, chemicals, metal casting, petroleum refining, and steel industries.

Petroleum

Illinois is a major crude oil refining State, leading the Midwest in refining capacity. The State has four refineries: two located near Chicago; one in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri; and one in Robinson, near the border with Indiana. Until about 1970, Illinois was among the top oil-producing States, but crude oil production today is minor. Illinois refineries rely on crude oil received mostly from Canada and the U.S. Gulf Coast. Illinois is an important transportation hub for crude oil moving throughout North America, as several major pipeline systems terminate in the State, including the Capline Pipeline system from Louisiana and the Lakehead Pipeline and Express/Platte Pipeline systems from Alberta, Canada.

U.S. imports of heavy crude oil produced from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, have increased rapidly in recent years. Alberta’s oil exports to the Midwest have increased so much that they have saturated the regional market, and some pipeline systems that once pumped crude oil north from the Gulf Coast to Illinois refineries have reversed flow to supply growing Canadian imports to Gulf Coast markets.

The Illinois suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, are required to use motor gasoline specially blended to reduce emissions that contribute to ozone formation during the summer months. The Chicago metropolitan area is required to use reformulated gasoline blended with ethanol to reduce emissions of smog-forming and toxic pollutants. Illinois ranks among the top States in ethanol production capacity, as more than a dozen active and under-construction ethanol plants convert the State’s abundant corn resources. The State ranks second behind Minnesota in the number of E85 (an alternative fuel composed of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) fueling stations, with approximately 200. In addition to serving the Chicago market, Illinois ships much of its ethanol output to other markets throughout the country.

Natural Gas

Although Illinois has very little indigenous natural gas production, the State is a major transportation hub for natural gas supply moving through North America. Major natural gas pipeline systems from the U.S. Gulf Coast, U.S. midcontinent regions, and western Canada converge at the Chicago Hub and the ANR Joliet Hub. From there, natural gas is transported to consumption markets in the Midwest and Northeast. In June 2009, a section of the eastern leg of the Rockies Express Pipeline system from Colorado and Wyoming began delivering additional natural gas supply to Illinois. To meet peak demand during the winter, Illinois stores natural gas in natural aquifers and depleted oil or natural gas reservoirs. Underground natural gas storage capacity in Illinois is second only to that of Michigan. The residential sector leads natural gas demand in Illinois, with more than four-fifths of Illinois households relying on the fuel as their primary energy source for home heating.

Coal, Electricity, and Renewables

Although the State’s estimated recoverable coal reserves represent more than one-tenth of the U.S. total, only a small fraction of those reserves are located at producing mines. Illinois does not rank among the Nation’s top coal producers, due in part to unfavorable geologic conditions and surface development, such as towns and roads, and in part to the fact that Illinois high-sulfur coal is less attractive to electric utilities than low-sulfur western coals. Illinois delivers more than one-half of its coal output to other States, including Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, and Missouri. Illinois also receives coal from other States, particularly Wyoming, and uses that coal to generate electricity.

Illinois is one of the top electricity-generating States in the Nation and a leading net exporter of electricity to other States. Coal and nuclear account for over 95 percent of the electricity generated in Illinois, with an even split between the two fuels. With 11 operating reactors at six nuclear power plants, Illinois ranks first among the States in nuclear generation, and generates more than one-tenth of all the nuclear power in the United States. The growth of the Illinois nuclear industry is due largely to State government initiatives, which began encouraging nuclear power development in the 1950s. The eventual outgrowth of this active interest in nuclear power was the construction of the first privately built commercial nuclear power plant, Dresden 1, which received its operating permit on September 28, 1959. Just over one-tenth of Illinois households use electricity as their primary energy source for home heating.

In August 2007, Illinois adopted a statewide renewable energy standard requiring the State’s utilities to produce at least 25 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025. Seventy-five percent of the electricity used to meet the renewable standard must come from wind; other eligible sources include solar, biomass, and existing hydroelectric power. The law also includes an energy efficiency portfolio standard that requires utilities to implement cost-effective energy efficiency measures to reduce electric usage by 2 percent of demand by 2015.