Iroquois County committee sets schedule to revise renewable-energy rules, flags fee-retention issue

Iroquois County committee members set a timeline to revisit renewable-energy ordinances and highlighted a budgetary issue: state changes to rules for battery storage and renewable projects mean the county may not be able to retain unspent developer fees to cover staff time.

Chair urged members to review draft ordinances ahead of a planned workshop with the county attorney so the committee can efficiently address questions. "Battery storage is a lot different than wind and solar," the chair said, noting that recent state guidance applied stricter standards to battery storage that will require focused rewrites.

Julie told members the current ordinance language and state rules effectively cap what the county can charge and leave little ability to retain balances from the renewable-energy fund. “Pretty much the way that everything is written now is that we are only able to to pay 3rd party or, but we can pay for some admin charges... the balance that's left in that renewable energy fund, we have to return to the developers,” Julie said. Committee members discussed options: billing staff hours to projects, seeking state-level recognition of county administrative costs, and keeping the issue on the lobbying agenda.

The committee set a tentative timeline for ordinance work in August or September and asked staff to prepare materials and questions for the county attorney before the next meeting. Members also noted planned budget hearings on the 29th and 30th and that staff would be available for follow-up discussions in the afternoons.

The committee did not adopt ordinance language at this meeting; it set a schedule for review and follow-up work with staff and counsel.