Blog Categories

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 Gets Designation for More Federal Funding for Clean Energy Projects

The state of Michigan recently expanded its ability to add federal funding to the amount of grants it can offer large-scale clean energy projects, Gov. Whitmer announced at the MI Healthy Climate Conference last week.

“We can ensure federal resources flow for large-scale, clean energy and economic development projects right here in Michigan,” Gov. Whitmer said at the conference. “These funds could help make factories cleaner, build electric vehicle chargers, energy storage facilities, wind turbines and solar arrays. And I’m also so excited that we’re going to get this done and I can’t wait for all of you to start using this new program.”

The potential new funds would be made possible by the recent determination by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) are State Energy Financing Institutions (SEFI). As a result, EGLE and MEDC will be able to supplement projects that they support with federal funding without restrictions that would otherwise be in place.

For example, SEFI institutions can have access to LPO support for projects that do not meet a DOE requirement that they “employ new or significantly improved technology,” expanding the types of projects that can be eligible for funding.

The priorities for the state of Michigan with this new SEFI program status include many of the priorities of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, including:

Installing 100,000 EV chargers by 2030
Deploying 2,500 MW of energy storage by 2030
Electrifying 200,000 buildings with heat pump conversions
Retrofitting more than 2 million buildings at a 30% efficiency improvement by 2030
Shifting electricity production to 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% clean energy by 2040
Reducing energy burden to no greater than 6% of income for low-income communities
Ensuring that at least 40% of benefits of climate-related funding reach disadvantaged communities
Expanding and creating new projects supporting the domestic clean energy supply chain

Find more information including the list of eligible applicants here.

Microgrid Convening Held in Grand Rapids

On May 22 in Grand Rapids, Michigan EIBC held a Public Convening, “Microgrids to Improve Reliability, Resiliency, and Expand Distributed Energy Resources,” sponsored by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

Michigan State University Professor of Electrical Engineering Dr. Joydeep Mitra gave a presentation with an overview of microgrids and delved into the more elaborate controls required for the functioning of a microgrid with the presence of diverse distributed energy resources. He spoke about the many considerations involved in designing a microgrid at different scales of deployment and desired benefits.

The convening also included a panel discussion featuring several Michigan EIBC members:

Eric Geerlings, Metro Consulting Associates
Kevin O’Connell, Michigan CAT
Joel Yu, Enchanted Rock

Thank you to all who attended the convening!

Michigan EIBC Members Participate in Panel on the Future of Renewable Energy in the Midwest

A panel at the recent American Clean Power Association’s Cleanpower conference in Minneapolis featured several representatives from Michigan EIBC member companies discussing the advantages – and challenges – of building renewable energy in the Midwest.

Chris Kunkle, senior director of government affairs for Michigan EIBC member Apex Clean Energy “cited abundant renewable resources, robust demand from corporate power purchasers, ambitious state clean energy goals and a ‘relatively functioning interconnection queue’ as tailwinds for renewable energy developers in the Midwest,” Utility Dive reported about the panel.

The biggest challenge continues to be local opposition to renewable energy siting, panelists said. “We need to be honest and take [communities’] concerns seriously,” Will Eberle, vice president for government relations and regulatory affairs at Michigan EIBC member RWE Clean Energy, said.

New Member

Energy Dome
Energy Dome is at the forefront of redefining long-duration energy storage with its CO2 Battery. The properties of carbon dioxide allow the system to store energy efficiently and cost-effectively through a patented thermodynamic process. With a modular approach and site-independent footprint, CO2 Batteries use readily available, off-the-shelf components from reliable, existing supply chains, providing a scalable pathway to store massive amounts of intermittent renewable energy and accelerate the energy transition. Energy Dome is commercially the CO2 Battery on all five continents and in over 40 counties. Energy Dome’s mission? Decarbonizing the world today.

Renewing Members

ESA Solar LLC
ESA Solar is a prominent clean energy development and decarbonization platform. Over the past decade, ESA has successfully transacted over 6 GW of operating solar energy projects and pre-construction development assets. Our diverse portfolio spans a broad array of asset classes, including installations at corporate headquarters, commercial and industrial facilities, community solar portfolios, and multi-100 MW utility-scale solar projects. ESA’s influence extends across 22 states, where projects have interconnected with 27 distinct utilities. ESA operates with the freedom and flexibility inherent in a privately owned and managed corporation. To learn more about ESA, please visit our website at esa-solar.com. You can also stay up to date with our latest developments by following us on LinkedIn.

Michigan Solar Solutions

Michigan Solar Solutions was established in 2008. MSS has earned an excellent reputation for designing, selling, servicing and installing solar electric systems, energy storage systems and electric vehicle chargers for homes, businesses, commercial buildings and municipalities.

Michigan Energy News

Renewable energy provides benefits like “good-paying jobs, sophisticated technologies, increased state investment, tax payments to cities and counties and lease payments to landowners totaling tens of millions of dollars,” Blake Edmonds, Great Lakes chairman of Young Conservatives for Energy Reform, writes in a letter to the Detroit News.
MLive reports on the debate over the future of nuclear energy in Michigan.
Michigan EIBC member FLO reports that the first of its FLO Ultra DC fast chargers have been manufactured at its facility in Auburn Hills.
The city of Lansing receives an $8 million EV charging station grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Polaris is building a network of chargers for electric off-road vehicles in the Upper Peninsula.

National Energy News

Cells and modules are not responsible for most battery storage system failures, according to a new study.
Better state procurement policies can help spur the development of long-duration energy storage, former FERC Commissioner Rich Glick writes.
Batteries saved consumers in Texas estimated $683 million in real-time market costs during extreme cold weather in January, according to a new report.
New federal standards could complicate plans from Duke Energy to build many gigawatts worth of new combined-cycle gas plants.

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.

AES

Stakeholder Relations Advisor. Location: Remote (Indiana, Michigan).

The Stakeholder Relations Advisor will work within AES Clean Energy’s Stakeholder Relations team in the central US, specifically MISO North, to include Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and other states, as assigned. This is an exciting opportunity to have a career in industry-leading engagement strategies to empower communities and advance a carbon-free future. This role will support AES’ strategic renewable energy-related stakeholder engagement, local community relations, drafting communications and collateral materials for strategic planning and social impact partnership development. This role will report to the Manager of Stakeholder Relations MISO.

Elevate

Vice President (VP), Program Support & Engagement. Location: Remote.

The Vice President (VP), Program Support & Engagement, oversees program support operations, marketing, and the adoption of Elevate’s strategic priorities for Diversity, Racial Equity and Inclusion within programs we implement. The role is responsible for leading these teams in successfully meeting their goals and objectives, including ensuring teams are within budget and management is efficient and consistent across areas; the role also ensures that all teams have sufficient resources and structure to meet the program goals they support. The VP, Support Systems is part of Elevate’s senior leadership team and oversees all facets of program support, marketing, and DREI initiatives while leading strategic planning, relationship management, and continuous improvement. This position requires program administration knowledge, people management expertise, flexibility, relationship management with key partners, and the ability to manage time effectively between a diverse set of tasks and teams.

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

Registration is open for the Mid-America Regulatory Conference (MARC) 2024 Annual Conference on June 9-12 in Minneapolis.

Join Michigan EIBC trade organization member Ceres, Emerson Collective, Elemental Excelerator, Climate Power and E2 in Detroit on June 10 for the Clean Economy and Community Impact Summit. Special guests include Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. RSVP here.

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

Opportunities

Michigan EIBC member Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Tech is managing a mobility prototyping grant for Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Office for Future Mobility & Electrification (OFME). Centrepolis Accelerator will award up to $50,000 to at least eight companies, focusing technical assistance services on: Product Development, Prototyping, Product Testing, and Manufacturing Readiness. Applications for the grant can be submitted at this link and are due May 28.

Consumers Energy has released an RFP for competitive bids from participants in the MISO Energy Market in accordance with the Company’s expansion of the Voluntary Green Pricing Program in its Renewable Energy Plan. A prelaunch stakeholder meeting is scheduled for June 3.

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.

The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a funding opportunity announcement for grants to “fund research, development, and prototype or pilot scale technology validation and demonstration activities that will accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable technologies that increase efficiency and eliminate industrial GHG emissions for the most energy- and emissions- intensive industrial subsectors.” The deadline is June 11. Learn more here,

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.

Recent Posts