LS4A Report: Michigan Needs People-Focused Energy Strategies to Improve Electric Grid & Keep Energy Affordable
Michigan Legislature Must Act to leverage federal dollars and remove barriers
(LANSING, Michigan) — People-focused energy strategies are needed to improve Michigan’s electric grid while keeping energy affordable for everyone. People-focused energy strategies parallels Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent fall agenda address that endorsed a 100% clean energy standard. The momentum is building as the Michigan Legislature is poised to take up the mantle of people-focused energy strategies that will break the vicious cycle of rising electric bills, power outages and human hardship.
According to Local Solar for All’s How Close is Michigan to People-Focused Energy Strategies? report, local solar options can make energy more affordable. Importantly, the benefits do not stop with solar adopters, and the MI Healthy Climate Plan acknowledges this. The roadmap specifically identified consumer access to clean energy, such as rooftop solar and community solar, as cost-effective, and essential as a statewide strategy. That is consistent with analysis by the organization Vote Solar, which showed Michigan can save $15 billion by 2035 with mainstream local solar and storage adoption.
“A people-centered approach to energy policy begins with a path to a fully clean energy grid and ensures that the delivery of that clean energy is done in an affordable and reliable manner,” said Robin Dutta, Campaign Director, Local Solar for All. “The $15 billion energy savings by 2035 would increase the savings estimated by Governor Whitmer when she endorsed a Michigan path to 100% clean energy. Clean energy policies focused on helping families and businesses, like removing the solar cap and creating a community solar program, will benefit all of Michigan.”
In order for Michigan to be practicing people-focused energy strategies, consumers will need:
Full, direct access to clean energy;
Full, direct access to clean back-up power, like battery storage connected to solar;
Low-income communities with the same full, direct access to clean energy as any other community;
Proactive reliability programs that harness local clean energy systems for grid-enhancing services.
“For the full vision of how the MI Healthy Climate Plan is to be realized, Michigan must adopt a path to a 100% clean energy that empowers consumers’ ability to act,” said Dutta. “Among the MI Healthy Climate Plan’s top recommendations were ‘Clean the Electric Grid’ and ‘Repair and Decarbonize Homes and Businesses’. One of the key strategies identified was to “create more favorable conditions for customer-sited behind-the-meter distributed energy resources like rooftop solar. Community solar and rooftop solar make those goals achievable.”
People-focused energy legislation is necessary to fulfilling Gov. Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan, which set out a vision of clean energy, consumer empowerment, and energy security. Accomplishing those goals will require decisive legislative action to move people-focused energy legislation into law, followed by executive actions, and extensive Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) regulatory proceedings. The Michigan Legislature is on the cusp of revamping its energy policy and they have multiple bills that would fundamentally re-align Michigan energy policy to first think about Michiganders’ energy needs:
Full Access to Clean Energy – This needs to be undertaken in three main ways:
Creating a 100% Clean Energy Standard. House Bill 4759 and Senate Bill 272 are two options to get there.
The elimination of the arbitrary distributed generation cap, which is proposed in House Bill 4228 and Senate Bills 362 and 363.
Creating a community solar program which is proposed in Senate Bills 152 and 153, as well as House Bill 4464.
Resiliency and Back-Up Power - House Bill 4840 would create new incentives to help consumers adopt solar and battery storage systems, providing needed back-up power options for communities.
LMI Solar and Storage Adoption – There are multiple necessary steps:
House Bill 4759 includes specific requirements to build low-income clean energy projects.
House Bill 4840 creates specific incentives to help low-income households adopt and benefit from local solar and storage systems.
Repealing the distributed generation cap and creating a community solar program are essential to the success of House Bills 4759 and 4840.
Proactive Grid Reliability Programs – House Bill 4839 would unlock the grid benefits of solar and storage combination systems. It would direct the MPSC to create programs that allow distributed solar and storage systems to act as “virtual power plants” and perform grid-enhancing services.
Dutta added that statutory reform is required to attract billions of federal dollars. Michigan is at risk of losing out on over $5 billion in total federal clean energy investments over the next decade, as detailed by the firm 5 Lakes Energy in their new report, The Michigan Clean Energy Framework. The at-risk federal investments include the EPA Solar for All program, as well as Michigan’s ability to access tax credits for low-income solar installations or attract investments from recipients of the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund or the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator grant programs.
Read the report here.