Southern Illinois Power Cooperative history

By 1950 it was apparent that IP's two new power plants would not be enough to keep up with growing post-war demands and plans were made for the construction of two new plants.

In 1953 IP's third post-war power plant, the Hennepin Station, began operating in north-central Illinois.

With the luxury of increased generating capacity, IP began to abandon its older generating plants in 1957, and during the next three years facilities in Champaign, Urbana, Decatur, and Danville ceased operations.

By 1960 post-war population growth had pushed operating revenues past $100 million, with 30 percent of those sales coming from an increasing gas business.

In 1964 IP joined with 11 other utilities from 10 states in the Midwest and East to form the power pool Mid-American Interpool Network (MAIN) to establish plans for a nationally interconnected electric distribution system and to provide economical backup generating capacity.

Van Wyck was named chairman in 1966, filling a position that had been vacant since he assumed the presidency 26 years earlier.

After being selected as a federal government test site in 1970, the Wood River Station became the first commercial power plant to test a method of removing and turning stack emissions into marketable sulfuric acid.

In 1971 Van Wyck retired as chairman.

IP's only major territorial expansion of the decade came in 1974, when it purchased the electric distribution system serving the southern Illinois city of Jacksonville.

Wood River Station began burning only low-sulfur coal in 1976 and two years later a sixth unit at Havana Station went on line burning only low-sulfur coal.

In 1981 IP formed three subsidiaries.

In 1985, with Clinton Station about 99 percent complete, the Illinois Commerce Commission limited to $2.69 billion the amount IP could charge customers for the Clinton plant, with company stockholders expected to absorb any additional construction costs.

In late 1989 Larry D. Haab was elected president, while Kelley remained chairman.

The company also established a natural gas division to develop new and expand existing gas markets and in 1991 a natural gas vehicle demonstration program was started, using 35 fleet vehicles with fuel systems converted to use compressed natural gas.

In 2003, SIPC completed a significant plant upgrade by replacing three aging small boilers with one 120 MW circulating fluidized bed boiler.

SIPC is a member of ACES Power Marketing, Midcontinent Independent System Operator and Southeast Electric Reliability Council (SERC). In 2008, SIPC joined the National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO) as a founding member.