Displaying items tagged: energy

HOLLAND — An equity investment from United Airlines Ventures could allow a startup advanced battery company to ramp up production in Holland via a partnership with automotive battery supplier Clarios International Inc. 

COVERT TWP. — While the recent denial of funding to reopen the Palisades nuclear power plant handicaps Michigan’s short-term emission-reduction goals, the state’s top energy regulator says new federal laws will create additional clean energy opportunities.

Michigan’s two largest investor-owned utilities say tax credit provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will speed up their investments in solar, wind and battery storage and could lead them to owning more facilities that earn a return on those investments.

SHOREHAM — Southwest Michigan automation manufacturer Eagle Technologies Group will add 100 jobs by 2024 and is leasing additional engineering and manufacturing space near St. Joseph to accommodate recent growth.

KENTWOOD — Contract medical device manufacturer Autocam Medical Devices LLC is embracing a suite of clean energy products at its new 120,000-square-foot Kentwood headquarters, including a large solar installation and energy efficiency technologies.

The global transition to electric vehicles and low-carbon transportation is well underway and creating a high-stakes competition among countries, and even states, to capture the associated manufacturing jobs.

The advanced transportation sector is driving Michigan’s clean energy job growth that has experienced steady increases after a pandemic-related downturn. 

A state board has approved hundreds of millions of dollars in tax exemptions and performance-based grants to help lure two large battery manufacturing projects that promise more than 4,000 jobs and nearly $4 billion in investment.

A long-discussed plan for a large solar project at the former Butterworth landfill in Grand Rapids could be moving forward under a recent settlement agreement approved by state energy regulators.

GRAND RAPIDS — A recent settlement agreement approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission could finally create a viable path forward for a long-discussed solar project on a Grand Rapids brownfield.

Hope College is partnering with local officials to determine Ottawa County’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure needs in the coming years as automakers and utilities forecast increased vehicle adoption.

Over the past few years, corporate demand for cleaner energy to power their operations has directly led to the development of large-scale wind and solar projects across Michigan.

COVERT TWP. — The odds of a Southwest Michigan nuclear plant coming back to life after recently closing have improved as the owner pursues targeted federal funding for distressed nuclear facilities.

Dana Lowell and his co-founders at Lilypad Labs Inc. have set out to change the way we think about accessing water — an abundant resource in West Michigan that at times can be out of reach for some.

The wind and solar industries could fully replace the number of lost jobs at U.S. coal-fired power plants that are expected to close to meet emission-reduction targets, a recent University of Michigan study has found.

Legislation similar to bills that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed in 2020 involving the taxation of commercial solar energy developments was reintroduced this summer with changes to gain broader support from local governments.

Multiple highway corridors through West Michigan would land high-speed electric vehicle charging stations in the coming years under a plan submitted last week for federal infrastructure funding.

PORT SHELDON TWP. — Consumers Energy’s recently approved plan to shut down the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Ottawa County in 2025 has caused a breach of contract dispute between the utility and another electricity provider.

Katherine Peretick was appointed to the Michigan Public Service Commission in 2021 for a term that expires in 2027. In that time, Michigan and other states are transitioning through a crucial moment for the energy and utility industries as hulking, centralized fossil fuel plants are displaced by clean energy technologies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

COVERT TWP. — Southwest Michigan economic development officials are hoping to lure new employers to the region to help offset the job losses from the retirement of the Palisades nuclear power plant along Lake Michigan.

Michigan energy regulators have reopened a case involving Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline and the company’s request to build an underground tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac, calling for more information on the line’s current and future safety.

Michigan added more energy-sector jobs than any other state in 2021, boosted primarily by the automotive industry and growing attention to hybrid and electric vehicle models.

The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved Consumers Energy’s latest long-term energy plan that calls for eliminating its coal-fired power in 2025 while also speeding up the deployment of energy storage.

Two Michigan-based biofuel producers have received a total of nearly $8.7 million in federal relief to help recover from unexpected losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A statewide advanced energy trade group recently released a “roadmap” for the state to maximize hundreds of millions of dollars in federal infrastructure funding in the coming years.

HOLLAND — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appeared in Holland today to launch a partnership with an electric vehicle manufacturer, a nonprofit and energy companies to build out an electric vehicle charging network in state parks along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

In late March, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a sweeping proposal that would require publicly traded companies to disclose climate change risks that are likely to affect their business, as well as their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions.

Clean energy and housing advocates in Michigan are working to spend down an increasing amount of weatherization funds with a shrinking pool of contractors at their disposal. 

The global energy transition that is underway to combat the worst effects of climate change can be encapsulated along roughly 125 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline.

GRAND RAPIDS — CMS Energy and Spectrum Health West Michigan are partnering on a new solar energy project that will help meet the power needs at a planned 80-bed subacute rehabilitation center on the city’s northeast side.