GRAND RAPIDS — Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer says West Michigan can “lead from the front” on renewable energy and battery storage, though he is withholding support for Democrats’ climate and clean energy proposals he believes lack details.

GRAND HAVEN — A West Michigan-based startup in the early stages of raising capital wants to lower the cost of and better manage energy storage and electric vehicle charging in homes.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest plan for spending $2.1 billion in federal COVID-19 relief includes tens of millions of dollars for clean energy initiatives. 

CADILLAC — Consumers Energy has unveiled a new “brownfield to brightfield” solar project that converted formerly abandoned industrial property into a clean energy power source.

Environmental and ratepayer advocates are withholding their full-throated support for Consumers Energy’s new long-term energy plan that eliminates coal usage by 2025, citing concerns over potential rate effects and the scale of ongoing fossil fuel reliance.

JACKSON — Michigan’s largest energy company announced today that it plans to phase out its remaining coal-fired power plants by 2025, which would be 15 years earlier than planned, as part of its updated long-term energy plan.

A financing tool that helps businesses fund clean energy and energy efficiency projects would be expanded to include additional properties and water quality efforts under legislation announced last week.

JACKSON — Investor-owned utility Consumers Energy has launched a new electric vehicle program that provides rebates and consultation to businesses looking to transition to electrified fleets.

June 1 marks the start of a new partnership between MiBiz and St. Paul, Minn.-based nonprofit Energy News Network. For myself, though, it’s more of a reunion.

Business advocacy groups from around the Great Lakes argued this week that shutting down Line 5 would lead to a crisis in regional oil and gas markets, although pipeline critics say that forecast is overblown.

JACKSON — Consumers Energy plans to help ramp up the number of fast-charging electric vehicle stations across the Lower Peninsula in the coming years to ensure EV drivers can travel longer distances while maintaining access to charging equipment.

Michigan’s mandates for renewable power and energy efficiency programs — first set in 2008 and slightly increased in 2016 — are scheduled to level off this year, although it may make little difference as the clean energy transition rolls on under market forces.

The ability to store intermittent renewable energy from wind and solar and capturing methane emissions from common waste streams to displace natural gas usage are two technologies poised to play a bigger role in a lower carbon future.

After production ground to a halt for Michigan oil and gas producers early in the COVID-19 pandemic, wells resumed activity later in the year for an improved short-term outlook.

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers has again proposed legislation backed by clean energy advocates to expand utility programs for customers who generate their own solar power.

Michigan’s statewide building codes are set for an update this year. While there could be some new energy efficiency measures added, the codes are far behind where they should be to address climate change, according to some local design firms and environmental advocates.

A Michigan Public Service Commission order in a sweeping Consumers Energy rate case last month includes a three-year pilot program to study the roll-out of electrified commercial fleet vehicles.

GRAND RAPIDS — Randy Thelen describes the COVID-19 pandemic as an “inflection point” that can shift the course of economic development in West Michigan.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order in late September creating a long-term climate change plan calling for the state to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Like many utilities, Consumers Energy is at the beginning of a decades-long transition that will fundamentally change the way electricity is generated. Utilities are gradually replacing large, centralized coal plants with more distributed resources like wind and solar along with battery storage. Consumers announced in February a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. Its broader long-term Clean Energy Plan was announced in 2019 under former CEO Patti Poppe, who this month started a new job leading California’s largest utility, PG&E. The reins have been passed to new President and CEO Garrick Rochow, who’s been with the Jackson-based utility for 16 years, most recently as senior vice president of operations.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is preparing to appoint her third member to the Michigan Public Service Commission in less than two years as another vacancy is expected by the end of the month.

In a move sought for years by environmental advocates, tribes, and hospitality and tourism businesses, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this month notified Enbridge Inc. that it would no longer have the state’s permission to operate the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.

JACKSON — Consumers Energy has agreed to expand a solar energy program that advocates say is crucial to continue the sector’s growth in Michigan.

JACKSON — CMS Energy President and CEO Patti Poppe is leaving the Jackson-based utility to lead San Francisco-based utility PG&E Corp., effective Dec. 1.

A key program that has incentivized small-scale solar projects in recent years is nearing its cap in two utility service territories.

On Sept. 23, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a target for Michigan to be carbon neutral by 2050. While that’s certainly a lofty goal, questions remain over what hitting the target will actually mean in practice. Over the next year, the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) will submit a MI Healthy Climate Plan to Whitmer that essentially acts as a roadmap. It will begin to detail ways the state and private sector — including utilities and industrial and commercial entities — can start chipping away at the carbon reduction goal while also outlining strategies for offsetting carbon emissions. Whitmer’s announcement made Michigan the fifth state with a long-term carbon neutral target, and the first in the Midwest. EGLE Director Liesl Clark recently spoke with MiBiz to discuss the climate goal and the pandemic’s effect on the clean energy sector.

Michigan’s two major investor-owned utilities are joining other large Midwest power companies in pledging to build out an interstate charging network to support more widespread electric vehicle adoption.

DTE Energy plans to significantly expand its solar energy portfolio in the next two years to support growing corporate demand for renewable energy contracts.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has awarded nearly $1.7 million to help public and private entities install 36 electric vehicle fast-charging stations across the state.

Four electric vehicle fast-charging stations are now operating along major highway corridors in the Lower Peninsula as part of the state’s and major utilities’ efforts to build supportive infrastructure allowing for EV growth.