By Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois is going to spend the next year and a half looking at the state’s future power needs, but the study isn’t just going to focus on wind turbines, coal mines, and electric lines.

A lot of the focus of the new NextGrid study from the Illinois Commerce Commission will be on people: How people use energy; how much energy people use; and how new technologies will change how people interact with power companies.

ICC spokeswoman Vicki Crawford said the NextGrid study is a little like looking into a crystal ball to see where the energy industry in the state is headed.

“There is a belief that the electric industry in Illinois is going to change more in the next decade than in the past 100 years,” Crawford said.

The point of the NextGrid study is to try and get a blueprint for that coming change, she said.

The ICC doesn’t have an estimated cost for the study, as most of the people who will be involved already work for the state or for the University of Illinois. The goal is also a bit amorphous. The ICC says it hopes to “provide a range of recommendations” and perhaps “[create] a 21st Century regulatory model that supports innovation.”

One of the biggest areas that Crawford expects to be studied is that more people will need more power in general, but less power from their power company.

Crawford said solar power and wind power is getting simple enough, and cheap enough, that people can now generate their own power.

“Right now, electricity is pretty much a one-way street,” Crawford saidd. “But potentially homeowners and communities will be able to generate power, to power their homes or businesses, store what’s needed and sell the rest back to the grid. Then, it becomes a two-way street.”

The ICC is finalizing who will help with the study. Crawford said the hope is to spend the next 18 months looking at the future of energy and wrap up sometime in early 2019.