By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The energy legislation signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on October 6 requires utility companies to purchase 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2015. That could lay the groundwork for competition between utility companies, alternative energy producers, entrepreneurs and developers. But first they have to decipher what the legislation, known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard, says.
“This is the most complicated piece of legislation I have ever worked on,” says Eric Schneidewind, energy law specialist at Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt and Howlett LLP and former chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission. He helped unravel the bill for business and civic leaders at a forum sponsored by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce November 11 and spoke with Rapid Growth via phone after the forum.
“The RPS will create an increased need for renewable power (from wind, biomass, solar, liquid and solid waste, or existing hydro),” Schneidewind says. “That will encourage some entrepreneurs, developers and energy producers. The RPS talks about large generating plants that would sell to utilities for customer programs, and about net metering for individuals who want to install generators or wind turbines, and sell leftover energy to the utilities.”
Schneidewind notes that today both Consumers Energy and DTE purchase small amounts of renewable energy. In the thumb area, wind projects with some 90 utility wind turbines came into service this year, a landfill in Novi converts methane to electricity, and Kent County burns trash to generate the electricity it sells to Consumers Energy.
“This law is written so the vast majority of the renewable energy for utilities would be produced in Michigan,” Schneidewind notes. “There’s a lot more incentive for reducing costs, and the ability to compete could mean finding efficient ways to deliver the resources.”
Source: Eric Schneidewind, Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt and Howlett; Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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