Generating one quarter of Michigan’s electricity from renewable sources by 2025 would not have a significant impact on electricity rates and would actually reduce energy costs in the long term, a study released today concludes.

America’s fossil fuel–dominated energy infrastructure is moving toward a more balanced system incorporating renewable resources that are clean, inexhaustible, and declining in costs. Michigan is part of this transition, one of 30 states with a requirement that electricity suppliers provide customers with a growing proportion of renewable energy. But at 10 percent by 2015, Michigan’s Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) is among the nation’s lowest. When that limit is reached, no further development is required under current law. An initiative on the November 2012 general election ballot, Proposal 3, is a Clean Renewable Electric Energy Standard that would build on Michigan’s current RES. It would require electricity providers to use renewable resources for 25% of their generation by 2025. To protect consumers, the RES includes a cost cap ensuring that compliance with Proposal 3 cannot cause electric rates to increase by more than 1% in any year. Using data from the companies’ federal and state regulatory filings, forecasts by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and other available information, this analysis examines the likely effect of Proposal 3 on ratepayer electricity costs.

One quarter of Michigan’s electricity would be generated from renewable sources by 2025 under a proposal that supporters hope to place on the November 2012 ballot. The state’s Board of Canvassers approved petition language for the issue on Jan. 20.

60: Percentage of Michigan electricity generated by coal 1.8: Billions of dollars Michiganders send to other states to buy coal to generate electricity

Almost 70 percent of Michiganders believe clean energy industries are job creators

Patty Birkholz, director of Michigan’s Office of the Great Lakes, talked wind energy recently with MEC member group Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI). While she wouldn’t speculate about when – or how vigorously – Gov. Rick Snyder might take up the issue of offshore wind turbines, she did say the administration supports wind energy. 

MEC member group Michigan Interfaith Power and Light (MIPL) brought together clergy from a half-dozen different faiths to tour the $440 million Gratiot County Wind Farm in November.

More than 74,000 Michigan jobs will be created if the Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs renewable energy ballot proposal passes in November, according to a new report from researchers at Michigan State University.

Federal approval of Cape Cod wind farm opens doors to North American offshore turbines; is a call to action for Michigan legislators

Norwegian developers are proposing the state’s first offshore wind farm in Lake Michigan near Pentwater. The plan, for up to 200 turbines within two miles of Silver Lake sand dunes, has generated controversy statewide. Developer Scandia Wind Offshore LLC recently announced it was cutting the project size in half and moving it farther offshore in response to criticism. Although Scandia has not submitted any formal proposal for the wind farm, its publicity has brought the issue to the forefront of public discussion.

Copenhagen, Denmark—While policy makers in Washington and Lansing fight tooth-and-nail over how much support to provide clean energy industries, Denmark is charging full-speed ahead with a formidable array of government-backed technology innovations that have buoyed its economy, galvanized its citizens and made it a key exporter of renewable power ideas and hardware. Whether you admire or distrust the Danish approach that involves extensive government partnership and involvement with its citizens and private industry, one thing is clear: it has made the island nation a formidable global economic force that belies its tiny size.

The future of Michigan’s clean energy manufacturing economy thrives in a pair of low-slung buildings in a sand-swept industrial park on Lake Michigan’s shore. Windspire wind turbines—a first generation of small windmills geared toward individual homes and businesses—are churned out by workers whose auto industry jobs have evaporated.

Our beloved Great Lakes are our nation’s most valuable fresh water haven. But in the age of peak oil, renewable energy standards and grandiose ‘Pickens like’ energy plans, our lakes’ second most plentiful resource lies hundreds of feet above the waters. That resource is offshore wind energy.

Hoping to rouse a legislature distracted by the state’s budgetary woes, wind energy experts and entrepreneurs addressed their role in Michigan’s economy at the "Manufacturing and Developing Wind Energy Systems in Michigan" symposium held Sept. 10 and 11 at Michigan State University.