(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/25/2023) The Senate Energy and Environment Committee voted out legislation Wednesday instructing utility providers in Michigan to run on 100 percent "clean energy" by 2040, permitting the use of nuclear energy and natural gas plants using carbon capture technology.
Originally, the Senate bills obligated utility companies to have a 100 percent carbon-free clean energy standard by 2035 with 60 percent of the state's power coming from wind, solar and geothermal technology by 2030.
SB 272 and SB 273, dealing with energy goals, were both approved on party-line votes of 9-5.
The legislation would guide a utility provider to run on 50 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 60 percent by 2034, with renewable energy also featuring hydropower and methane digesters dealing with the decomposition of organic waste. By 2040, the 100 percent "clean energy" portfolio could include new and existing gas sources if subjected to a carbon capture and storage (CCS) rate of 90 percent.
Moreover, SB 272 and SB 273 allow for "off-ramps," where a utility company can make a case to the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) – the state's electric and natural gas regulatory arm – if it is struggling to meet the legislation's deadlines.
The MPSC could judge if a utility provider's inability to deliver is justifiable. Furthermore, the MPSC could determine if the transition to clean energy at the speed prescribed in the legislation has become too expensive, based on factors like inflation, heightened costs for consumers and unpredictable costs related to building and operating energy sources.
Despite the modifications, Sen. Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway), the committee's minority vice chair, paints the Democrats as "moving a 'Green New Energy Deal' as quickly as we can to give the Governor the presidential politics she needs for her aspirations."
He said the Republicans on the panel were not able to offer amendments to the legislation, as the updated bill language was placed before them prior to the less than 15-minute hearing.
"I mean, the ink's not wet, but the paper's still warm," Lauwers said.
In a March poll commissioned by Evergreen Action, a national clean energy advocacy group, 73 percent of 597 likely Michigan voters said they supported increasing the share of electricity that is produced from renewable energy sources, like wind and solar power. In the same poll, 52 percent of respondents wanted to see the remaining coal-fired power plants phased out in Michigan, which Consumers Energy has already committed itself to doing by 2025 and DTE by 2032.
Before SB 272 and SB 273 were voted out of committee today, a press conference was hosted by the Great Lakes Growth Coalition – a congregation of business membership organizations opposed to legislation that could create an unpredictable or over-regulated business environment in Michigan.
At the event, Michael Johnston, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA), said one of his group's members, a manufacturer with 340 employees and an annual energy bill of $3 million, was contacted by someone from Missouri claiming he could save $600,000 each year by relocating to that state.
"Our concerns about this package is it's rooted in mandates, and mandates by definition don't prioritize price reliability and our ability to compete in the global economy," Johnston said. "Now they're taking up bills in drafts that we haven't seen. There have been limitations in our ability to put input in their effort to get this done before a potential early sine die."
Currently, Senate Democrats are expected to adjourn for the year by mid-November to ensure certain bills, like a new February presidential primary that aligns with the Democratic National Committee's latest elections calendar, are implemented on time.
Sen. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo) said he believes the legislation is intended for evolving circumstances, where technology may move faster to assist with its clean energy deadlines and where off-ramps for utilities recognize "we might have to continue on natural gas longer than we'd like to."
But, the alternative of doing nothing or not setting goalposts with the acknowledgment that they might need flexibility, "is to just sort of not acknowledge that we have a crisis on our hands and that we need to move quickly to make Michigan do its part in cleaning the environment," he said.
SB 272 and SB 273 will also eliminate fossil fuel-based storage from the definition of "energy storage" within the new statute, as utilities will be obligated to contribute to 2,500 megawatts of total new energy storage, statewide, by 2030. The MPSC will be expected to oversee a study on long-duration energy storage, as well.
As for energy waste reduction standards, which electric and natural gas providers submit biennial optimization plans for, expectations of incremental energy savings for electric providers will go from 1 to 1.5 percent and from .75 to .875 percent for gas providers.
The Senate panel additionally approved SB 502 , requiring the MPSC to incorporate weatherization and efficient electrification measures, "equitable access to energy efficiency" and Census tracts revealing socio-economic stressors and "vulnerability to environmental degradation" into its regulatory process over utilities.
Under SB 502 an energy utility company serving at least 100,000 customers would go from appropriating either $650,000 or $900,000 to the Utility Consumer Representation Fund after filing a cost recovery application to now appropriating $1.8 million or $2 million.
SB 502 was voted out of committee 8-5 with Sen. Sam SINGH (D-East Lansing) abstaining.
SB 271 , SB 273 and SB 502 are expected to come for a final Senate vote Thursday.
