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Newsletter (414)

Welcome to the weekly newsletter of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (Michigan EIBC), the business voice for advanced energy in Michigan. Here’s what’s new this week:

Michigan Budget Passes, Funds EV Infrastructure, Renewables and Energy Efficiency

This week, the Michigan legislature approved an $82.5 billion state budget deal for fiscal year 2024-2025 that included state and federal dollar investments in renewable energy, EV infrastructure, energy efficiency and more.

Michigan EIBC highlights the following advanced energy budget provisions, many of which we advocated for throughout the budget process:

$30 million for clean fuel and electric vehicle charging infrastructure
$7 million for clean energy legislation implementation at the MPSC, including administering legislative changes, hiring new staff, and funding a 5-year Energy Waste Reduction and Demand Response Study
$21.86 million for weatherization assistance and $40 million in federal funds for weatherization full-time equivalents
$5 million for pre-weatherization or home repair funding
$156.2 million in federal Inflation Reduction Act funding for Solar For All
$5 million for Michigan Saves, the state’s nonprofit green bank
$23.95 million for New Technology and Mobility, including:
- $7.5 million for aerial mobility and drone infrastructure projects including drone hubs, drone ports and last mile delivery
- $6.0 million for the Michigan Mobility Funding Platform
- $4.5 million for an inductive charging pilot project
- $3.0 million for shared streets and spaces
- $2.95 million for e-bike purchase incentive program
$33.4 million for housing stock and homeowner affordability, which can be used to construction new and renovate existing housing, as well as complete energy efficiency projects
$5 million for renewable energy and electrification infrastructure enhancement and development for grants to businesses, nonprofits, and local units of government for the purpose of planning and developing renewable energy and EV charging projects
$2.5 million for the Community and Worker Economic Transition Office, to ensure communities, workers, and businesses are supported in navigating the state’s economic transition to decarbonizing mobility, the power grid and the manufacturing industry

Jupiter Power Announces 100-MW Battery Storage PPA with Consumers Energy

In what will be one of the largest storage investments in Michigan ever, Michigan EIBC member Jupiter Power recently announced that it will build a 100-MW battery storage facility in Coldwater through a long-term power purchase agreement signed with Consumers Energy.

This announcement comes shortly after DTE announced it would pursue a 220-MW battery storage project at the site of the Trenton Channel coal-fired power plant. DTE’s integrated resource plan has called for 240 MW of storage capacity by 2027. Meanwhile, Consumers Energy has a goal of 550 MW of storage capacity by 2040.

These storage additions will help Michigan meet the target, set by the new clean energy laws passed last year, of at least a combined 2,500 MW of storage for all state electricity providers by 2030. The 2,500-MW target was developed by the Institute for Energy Innovation and Michigan EIBC’s Energy Storage Roadmap, completed for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) in 2022.

“As an early investor in the development of battery energy storage projects in Michigan, Jupiter is thrilled to provide Consumers with cost-competitive energy storage solutions that help Consumers meet its storage and clean energy goals,” Jupiter Vice President of Origination Sam Matlin said in a statement.

MPSC Moves Closer to Implementing Rules to Streamline Clean Energy Project Siting

Last week the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) staff released the draft of its instructions for renewable energy and energy storage to apply for siting approval under the new process created by Public Act 233, the law passed at the end of 2023 that Michigan EIBC has praised as having great promise to streamline the siting process and allow more clean energy projects to be built in Michigan.

The MPSC staff’s instructions are very important for this new process to succeed. They lay out exactly what steps a project developer must go through in situations where it is unable to obtain zoning approval from a local unit of government, such as a township, county or city, and thus decides to use the alternative path created by the law and applies for approval through the MPSC.

Michigan EIBC and Advanced Energy United have been submitting numerous comments throughout the MPSC staff’s drafting of these instructions to point out ways to make them as simple and in line with the intent of the law as possible. It is important to ensure that the final instructions respect the intent of the new law – to provide an alternative path for zoning approval for projects when the local process does not work.

The law and the proposed instructions ensure that local governments and communities receive funding, community benefits, and input into the decisions made by the MPSC. The proposed instructions also ensure that labor and environmental standards will be followed for any approved project.

Michigan EIBC and Advanced Energy United applaud the MPSC for taking this important step and plan to participate in the upcoming comment process to ensure that this important siting process moves forward as smoothly as possible.

Registration Open for 12th Annual Michigan Energy Innovators Gala

Michigan EIBC is excited to welcome our members, Michigan legislators and state officials, and the general public to our 12th Annual Michigan Energy Innovators Gala on September 25th at The Gem Theatre in Detroit. Register now for one of our most popular events!

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please reach out to Brianna. You can view the available sponsorship levels and benefits here. Please note that the Watt level is sold out. And thank you to our current sponsors, who’s generosity helps to make our annual gala a huge success!

TERAWATT SPONSOR

GIGAWATT SPONSOR

MEGAWATT SPONSORS

KILOWATT SPONSORS

WATT SPONSORS

New Members

CCI Industrial Constructors

CCI Industrial Constructors is a self-performing general contractor providing civil, structural and mechanical construction services for the industrial markets. Our target projects range from new construction to retrofits/upgrades in support of capital construction, maintenance and outage related work. When it comes to new projects, CCI can deliver in virtually any method including: General Contracting, Engineering, Procurement & Construction, Design-Build, and Self-Perform Construction.

Grindstone Strategies, LLC
Grindstone Strategies supports the renewable energy industry with a specialization in state, federal and local governmental relations.

Vesper Energy Development LLC
Vesper Energy provides innovative solutions to today’s complex energy challenges. Headquartered in the greater Dallas area, Vesper Energy comprises professionals who have collectively delivered more than 10 GW of renewable energy projects globally. Today, our pipeline includes over 49 renewable energy and storage projects with a generating capacity of 16 GW, enough to power more than 2 million homes. Working with our customers, communities, and business partners, we develop, own, and operate renewable energy projects across the United States to build a better energy infrastructure.

Renewing Members

Bloom Energy
The Bloom Energy server is a flexible platform that scales with you as you navigate the energy transition. Bloom Energy Servers deliver reliable, resilient, 24/7 onsite power with world-leading efficiency. Our Energy Server is a distributed generation platform that provides always-on power. The Bloom Server can be personalized to deliver a combination of reliability & resiliency, sustainability, and cost predictability. Businesses and communities trust Bloom to provide generation from solid oxide fuel cells, hydrogen fuel cells, and electrolytes.

Growth Capital Network
Growth Capital Network manages education and development programs for the innovation and entrepreneurial community. This has included the million-dollar Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition (AMIC), researcher education for Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization program (M-TRAC) and the Midwest Green Technology Entrepreneur Academy (MI-GTEA). GCN also provides analytical and evaluative services to measure the impact of entrepreneurial and innovation programs for the foundation and non-profit community.

Michigan Energy News

University of Michigan researchers will be testing wave energy technology around Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.
MLive reports on the difficulties rolling out electric school buses in Ann Arbor and elsewhere.
“I’m thrilled to see the gains we’ve made to promote renewable energy investments that will boost our local economies and communities. We must keep moving in this direction — but threats are looming that could thwart our progress,” state Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) writes in an opinion piece in the Detroit News.

National Energy News

The U.S. Department of Energy announces $63.5 million in awards to four companies working on “transformative” energy storage technologies.
American Electric Power and Exelon argue to FERC that locating a new data center at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant will harm customers.
High EV purchase prices are pushing back the timeline for greater EV adoption, according to a new Bank of America report.
The carbon offset market badly needs reform, according to an assessment from the Climate Crisis Advisory Group.

Job Board

Attention Michigan EIBC members: if you have a job announcement you would like in the newsletter, please send a paragraph describing the position and a link to apply to Matt Bandyk at matt@mieibc.org. Please include in the email a specific end date for the job posting.

Elevate

Diversity, Racial Equity, and Inclusion Lead. Location: Chicago.
The Diversity, Racial Equity, and Inclusion (DREI) Lead is responsible for the development and implementation (integration) of initiatives that promote diversity, racial equity, and inclusion (DREI) aligning with Elevate’s core vision, mission, values, and goals. The DREI Lead will work closely with the DREI support team and others, as needed, to ensure integration of DREI principles throughout Elevate programs, processes and practices, execute on strategic priorities, and drive successful outcomes. This Lead will serve as the subject matter expert on DREI and provide vision, expertise, and counsel on matters of diversity initiatives, strategic planning, education and research, and program implementation.

Michigan and National Energy Events

Michigan EIBC member Lean & Green Michigan is holding a networking and informational event, “Unlocking Opportunities: Exploring PACE Financing in Michigan,” at the Cambria Hotel, a recent PACE project, in downtown Detroit, from 8:30 am to 10:00 am on July 9. Breakfast will be provided.

The 68th Annual Michigan Energy Providers Conference will be held at the Grand Traverse Resort July 25-26. Register here.

Michigan EIBC trade organization member American Clean Power is holding a lunch celebrating Michigan’s progress on clean energy featuring Reps. Abraham Aiyash and Ranjeev Puri and Sen. Sam Singh on Aug. 14 at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. Please RSVP here by July 10.

On Aug. 3, the Michigan Electric Vehicle Alliance is holding the Clean Cruise, an organized EV cruise on Woodward Avenue in Ferndale. Find out more information here.

The 12th Annual Michigan Energy Innovators Gala will be held in Detroit on Sept. 25. Tickets are available now.

Opportunities

The Michigan Public Service Commission has created a website tracking its progress implementing Public Acts 229, 231, 233, 234, and 235, passed on Nov. 8, 2023 and signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Nov. 28.

Michigan EGLE is launching the Renewables Ready Communities Award (RRCA), which makes Michigan municipalities that have, on or after October 1, 2023, begun physically hosting and performing local permitting for any portion of an eligible renewable energy project eligible for awards of $5,000 per MW. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until Sept. 30. More information on this opportunity can be found on the RRCA Webpage.

Michigan EGLE is offering at least $320,000 in funding MI Solar Communities-MI Solar Access Program. Applications will be accepted through March 31, 2025, or when funding is expended, whichever comes first. Find the request for proposals for MI Solar Access here.

Michigan EGLE has released an RFP for grants from its Clean Energy Workforce Development Program. The application deadline is July 30, 2025.

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