 MPSC to receive technical assistance from U.S. Department of Energy
LANSING • The MPSC received notice in January that it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to receive expert technical assistance through the agency’s State Technical Assistance to Public Utility Commissions program, which is part of the Energy Department’s Grid Modernization Initiative, offered in conjunction with the Energy Department’s National Laboratories. The program’s goal is to provide in-depth technical assistance to state regulators addressing challenges facing the electricity industry.
At the MPSC, the assistance will focus on two initiatives:
- The first initiative, led by Commissioner Tremaine Phillips, is considering approaches to developing publicly available mapping tools that can help identify system capacity restraints and locations where new sources of distributed energy generation and load can be integrated into the grid in a cost-effective way. Among other efforts, this will help inform the utilities’ electric distribution plans, highlight needs for interconnection rule updates, and aid in the completion of a grid integration study requested in Senate Resolution 143 of 2020.
- The second initiative, led by Commissioner Katherine Peretick, will explore regulatory approaches to modeling and valuing grid-scale energy storage. This work will tie in with the MPSC’s MI Power Grid advanced planning workgroup and the Commission’s work to update integrated resource planning parameters and filing requirements in 2022.
 Commissioners, MPSC Staff tour Ludington Pumped Storage plant, Consumers Energy’s Hardy Dam in west Michigan
LUDINGTON • Commissioners Tremaine Phillips and Katherine Peretick and several MPSC staffers toured Consumers Energy’s Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River and the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant on Lake Michigan on Feb. 8.
The tour of the two hydropower facilities gave the Commission a chance to see up-close major power generation sites that have undergone or are due for major upgrades. The Ludington plant, jointly owned by Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, recently underwent a multiyear, $800 million renovation. Consumers, meanwhile, is preparing for a significant upgrade of the Hardy Dam spillway in the coming years. The Hardy Dam and two others on the Muskegon River — the Rogers Dam and the Croton Dam — together can generate 45,500 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power about 22,000 homes.
The 1875-megawatt Ludington plant is Michigan’s largest energy storage facility, providing important balancing functions for the region’s grid. It works by pumping billions of gallons of water from Lake Michigan to a reservoir high above the lake shore, generally during night and weekend times of lower electricity demand. Then, during peak energy use periods, that water is dropped from the reservoir through pump-turbines back into the lake, generating enough electricity to power a community of 1.4 million people.
Decisions released at the MPSC’s Jan. 20 meeting
LANSING • Here’s information on some of the other orders the Commission approved at the Jan. 20 Commission meeting:
- The MPSC approved three Consumers Energy Co. contracts that allow the utility to increase the amount of electricity for its customers that is generated from solar facilities and resolving disputes involving earlier solar contracts. In Case No. U-20165, the Commission approved full avoided cost rates under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. In Case No. U-20500, the Commission approved amended power purchase agreements (PPA) with sPower Development Co. for four solar projects. And in Case No. U-20604, the Commission approved a PPA with Michigan Apple Packers Cooperative Inc. in Kent County.
- The Commission approved two settlements involving DTE Electric Co. (Case No. U-20876) and DTE Gas Co.’s (Case No. U-20881) two-year energy waste reduction (EWR) plans for 2022-2023. The settlements include additional assistance for low-income customers and innovative approaches to connecting assistance programs with EWR efforts as a long-term effort to reduce these customers’ energy burden. The settlements’ terms include offering EWR to customers in the utilities’ Payment Stability Plan; increasing spending on other programs for income qualified customers in both single-family and multi-family housing; performing studies that will prioritize areas most in need of EWR assistance, and working to boost diversity, equity and inclusion among contractors and suppliers in their EWR program.
For more about orders approved Jan. 20, check out the MPSC’s news release.
The mission of the Michigan Public Service Commission is to serve the public by ensuring safe, reliable, and accessible energy and telecommunications services at reasonable rates.
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