Displaying items tagged: Consumers Energy

The state Legislature has been active in recent weeks on energy bills being championed by West Michigan lawmakers. 

Michigan’s two largest investor-owned utilities have launched an “education campaign” as clean energy advocates tout the potential economic benefits of community solar energy and as lawmakers consider bills on the topic that the utilities oppose.

A state lawmaker from West Michigan has introduced legislation that would give industrial electric customers an opportunity to select alternative power suppliers in what supporters say is an effort to reduce electric costs and attract investments.

Low industrial real estate vacancy rates and ongoing construction backlogs are pushing industrial projects to more rural and outlying areas.

Consumers Energy expects to start purchasing power next year from four new solar projects that will add more than 100 megawatts of renewable energy to the utility’s generation mix.

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.

JACKSON — CMS Energy Corp. plans to sell a Utah-based bank that specializes in home improvement lending nationwide.

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.

Michigan’s two major investor-owned utilities want to negotiate with state legislators and advocates on a proposed bill that would expand access to the companies’ rooftop solar programs.

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.

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.

GRAND RAPIDS — Six West Michigan corporations earned top scores in this year’s Corporate Equality Index rankings recently published by the Human Rights Campaign, showcasing the companies as among the best places to work for LGBTQ equality.

The corporate foundations of the state’s two major energy utilities have distributed nearly $26.5 million in direct relief funds to meet basic needs such as food, shelter and personal protective equipment since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

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.

Here is the MiBiz growth report for January 3, 2021.

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.

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

Megan Sall Rydecki comes to Consumers Energy amid major short- and long-term changes at the state’s largest energy provider. Not only is the company in the early stages of a sweeping 20-year transition to clean energy, but its charismatic leader, President and CEO Patti Poppe, last week announced a new job leading California’s largest utility, PG&E Corp., effective Dec. 1.

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.

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.

Consumers Energy is hosting a series of virtual public forums over the next several months to gather public input on the next phase of its long-term clean energy plan.

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.

The political advocacy arm of Business Leaders for Michigan, a roundtable composed of some of the state’s largest companies, has contributed $100,000 to a ballot initiative to expand Michigan’s civil rights law to include LGBTQ protections.