GLREA Annual Meeting in Ann Arbor on December 3 brought together about 80 members and friends to learn and chat about the latest developments in renewable energy. Larry Ward, Exec. Dir. of the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum, talked about his organization and our common interests. Thomas Lyon, Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Policy, talked about UM sustainability efforts. Cary Church, Dave Konkle, Melanie McCoy, and John Sarver were elected to three-year terms on the Board of Directors.
At the annual meeting, John Freeman was introduced as the new GLREA Exec. Dir. John has worked as a lawyer, policy organizer and state legislator. He served 3 terms in the Michigan House from 1993 to 1998, representing Royal Oak, Madison Heights and Hazel Park before leaving because of term limits. Since 2013, John has been working with Homeland Solar and in 2014 was elected to the GLREA Board of Directors. John received his Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit law school and his Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan.
Annual awards are presented at the meeting. The Jennifer M. Granholm Leadership Award went to Rep. Jeff Irwin for his legislative efforts and “Energy Freedom” bill package (photo above). The Exemplary Project Award went to Craig Toepfer for his PV & EV Charging Project. Appreciation awards were given to Mary McGraw for her many years of service to GLREA and to Mark Clevey for his success in starting and organizing the Ann Arbor Solar Users Network. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Jim Carter, our past GLREA president, who passed away in June.
Michigan News
State Energy Legislation was enacted at the very end of the “lame duck” session. Clean energy advocates including GLREA were successful in keeping true net metering and getting rid of the proposed grid charge. However, within one year, the MPSC must conduct a study and devise an “equitable tariff” for customers on net metering. The new legislation includes a Renewable Portfolio Standard of 12.5% by 2019 and 15% by 2021 and retains the energy optimization standard through 2021. The new laws also provide additional incentives for utility energy efficiency programs, an integrated resource planning process for new power sources, new requirements for electric choice alternate suppliers, and a nonbinding goal to meet 35% of Michigan’s power needs through a combination of renewable energy and waste reduction by 2025.
More details.
Marquette Board of Light and Power has approved a community solar garden which will open for sign-ups in early 2017. The 151 kW project will have 480 315-watt panels. Participants would be credited at 6.3 cents per kWh which could be raised as additional values from solar are quantified in the future. The cost estimate is $1.83 per watt and the target price for a 315 watt solar panel is about $500. The BLP is contracting with Michigan Energy Options for marketing, website, sales and integration of the solar garden. More details.
Palisades Nuclear plant on the shore of Lake Michigan will shut down on Oct. 1, 2018, according to Entergy. Previously, Consumers Energy’s contract with the plant wasn’t set to expire until 2022. The decision comes close on the heels of Illinois Gov. Rauner signing a bill providing subsidies to nuclear plants in that state. DTE Energy has filed for a license extension for its Fermi 2 plant through 2045 and has obtained a license to build a third reactor at the site. More details.
New Michigan-Only Utility in the U.P. has been approved by the MPSC. The settlement agreement authorizes creation of a new gas and electric utility, Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation (UMERC). Its 40,000 customers were previously served by the Wisconsin Electric Power Co. and Wisconsin Public Service Corp.
More details.
Detroit just became the largest American city to have 100% LED public lighting. The $185 million project finished ahead of schedule. Before the project, 40% of the city’s streetlights didn’t work. More details.
Traverse City Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to set a goal of 100 percent renewables by 2020 to power city services, such as streetlights, wastewater treatment plant and government buildings. Traverse City joins Grand Rapids, which has a 100 percent renewables goal by 2025 to power city operations, and Northport, which has a plan to power the entire community with renewables. About 20 U.S. cities have 100 percent renewable energy targets. More details.
Michigan Saves has just surpassed $80 million in residential and commercial loans. Michigan Saves booked its first loan for $3,916 in September 2010. The non-profit maintains a network of nearly 500 authorized contractors and 10 authorized lenders.
Since 2010, Michigan Saves has financed energy improvements in 7,255 homes, businesses and public buildings. www.michigansaves.org
SolarYpsi’s Nonprofit Project has been highlighted in Home Power Magazine. Early in 2015, a benefactor contacted SolarYpsi wanting to fund more PV installations in Ypsilanti. Since SolarYpsi is not a 501(c)3, it was determined that the best course of action would be to put together a list of nonprofits interested in having a PV system and the donor would choose from the list. The donor contributed a total of $93,000 for 5 kW PV systems at a public library, two community centers, a public high school, a health center, and a city-owned carport. More details.
Beyond Michigan
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has vetoed legislation that would have made state renewable and efficiency standards voluntary for the next two years. The veto of House Bill 554 means Ohio’s utilities and electric suppliers must supply an increasing percentage of renewable power until that percentage is 12.5 in 2027. The standard has been frozen at 2.5% since 2014 while lawmakers studied the issue. More
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner approved a plan Wednesday that will provide billions of dollars in subsidies to Exelon to keep two unprofitable nuclear plants open for 10 more years. The Future Energy Jobs Bill (SB 2814) also included various fixes to the state’s 25 by 2025 RPS, $750 million in programs for low-income communities, and requirements that ComEd reduce its demand by 21.5% and Ameren reduce its demand by 16% by 2030. Utilities wanted to scrap net metering and impose a fixed demand charge on customers but net metering will remain in place. More details.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) recently published the ninth edition of its Tracking the Sun report, a summary of price trends of PV systems. The report finds what you would expect – pricing is at an all-time low. Berkeley Lab has publicly shared the data used in the report , making accessible all non-confidential data from the approximately 800,000 solar energy systems tracked in the latest edition of the report. The data can be accessed through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Open PV Project. If you are not in the database, consider entering in your PV system so that the database will become even more useful.
Turbulence created by wind turbines may help corn and soybeans by influencing temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations, according to research done at Iowa State. The project drew on data generated by research towers set up on a 200-turbine wind farm in Iowa. More details.
Statoil has won a $42.5 million bid to lease 79,350 acres of federal waters 14 miles off Long Island. The company plans to build a massive offshore wind farm to send clean energy to New York City and its suburbs. The first phase is expected to produce up to 600 MW. More details.
Want to Take a Video Tour of a Wind Turbine? Join wind technician Simon Edelman as he climbs to the top of a GE wind turbine at the NWTC.
Events
A2 Group Solar Program will have a kick-off event on Jan. 12, 4:30-6:30 pm.at
Conor O’Neills. The program goal is to accelerate the installation of PV systems through a group purchase. The program is a partnership between the City of Ann Arbor, Energy Commission, Clean Energy Coalition and Geostellar. RSVP here.
Michigan Forest Bioeconomy Conference will be held on Feb. 1-2 at the Eberhard Center in Grand Rapids. The conference will inform and educate attendees about the forest bioeconomy and its potential to create new business opportunities. http://mifbi.org/
Zero-Net Construction: What You Need to Know Now will be presented by Doug Elbinger, Newman Consulting Group, on Feb. 1 at Michigan Construction & Design Tradeshow,
ASES’s 46th annual conference, “SOLAR 2017: Building a 100% Renewable Energy Community,” will be held October 9-12, 2017, in Denver, between the weekends of public days at the U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon. ASES has issued a call for participation.
Submit Poster, ~switch, Technical Session abstracts, or Forum and Workshop proposals here.
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SOURCE: Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association
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