Michigan utilities on track to meet renewable energy benchmarks - MLive.com
Michigan utilities on track to meet renewable energy benchmarks - mlive.com
Michigan state utility regulators said major power providers are on track to meet a 35% renewable energy benchmark for 2025.
That estimation comes after analysis showed utilities met a required 15% renewable standard for 2021, which lawmakers set five years prior. Yet despite that significant increase, there remains a big gap before reaching the Michigan climate plan goal of 60% renewable by 2030.
A new status report issued Sept. 29 by the Michigan Public Service Commission said more than 16% of Michigan’s power generation came from renewable energy as of 2022, a 15% year-over-year increase from 2021.
Dan Scripps, MPSC chairman, said the data shows renewable energy is expanding its share of Michigan’s power generation portfolio, even beyond state requirements in 2021.
“You’re still seeing sort of 15% annual growth driven, I think, by the integrated resource planning process and the desires of customers to add more renewables. But when you put that against the targets in the My Healthy Climate Plan, it’s really clear that we also have a long, long ways to go,” he said.
Officials report that renewable energy development in Michigan is keeping pace with national trends, as the U.S. power sector saw similar increases from 12% to 14% in renewable generation.
The next upcoming – but not legally binding – goal is for regulated utilities to by 2025 meet at least 35% of Michigan’s electricity needs through renewable energy and energy waste reduction efforts. Analysis by the MPSC showed utilities are a quarter of the way to meeting that target.
“I think we are on track to get there,” Scripps said. “And then I think the question is where we go from there.”
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The MPSC status report said that rate-regulated electric providers had about 6,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects within Michigan by the end of last year. Based on utilities’ integrated resource plans, the agency expects the state will have more than 8,000 megawatts of renewable energy in operation by the end of 2026.
Wind power remains the dominant renewable source in Michigan at 59% because of its low costs, but rapid decreases in solar costs and problems siting wind farms is spurring a surge in solar, according to the report.
Electricity generation from utility-scale solar in Michigan more than doubled in 2022, and distributed generation installations increased 27% from 2020.
Michigan’s two largest utilities maintain energy transition plans to reduce carbon emissions and boost renewable generation, particularly in solar power.
Consumers Energy intends to entirely end its coal use in 2025, accelerate battery storage growth, and add nearly 8,000 megawatts of solar generation during the next decade and a half.
DTE Energy intends to shut down some coal-burning units sooner than previously planned and invest in both battery storage and 15,000 megawatts of renewable generation.
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The MPSC’s report comes amid discussions in Lansing as lawmakers consider legislation that would codify the state’s climate plan and set a required 60% renewable and 100% clean-energy standard for Michigan.
Both the state House and Senate took public testimony during committee hearings in recent months about the goal to shift Michigan toward a carbon-neutral future.
The proposed legislation in both the House and Senate are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy costs for Michigan residents. The bills would force utilities off fossil fuels faster than planned and require heavy investment in energy efficiencies and reduced costs for lower-income households.
Renewable energy generation does not result in carbon emissions, which drive the greenhouse effect and cause global warming and the accelerating climate crisis.
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Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: electricity
Electricity is a secondary energy source: it is generated through the conversion of primary energy sources such as natural gas, coal, solar, hydropower, and wind. Electricity’s versatility is not cost-free: a substantial amount of energy is lost in its generation and the cost of storage is high, compared with fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. The economics of battery technology hold the key to expanded use of renewable sources to generate electricity.