Michigan PSC annual report reveals wind dominates Michigan’s renewable energy

Even as the renewable market expands and changes, wind generation continues to helm Michigan’s alternative energy efforts, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission’s (MPSC) ninth annual report on renewable power.

With 25 utility-scale wind projects currently operating in Michigan, wind creates 1,925 megawatts of power, and an additional 555 megawatts are on the way in the form of four soon-to-be-built facilities. All told, these projects generated around 69 percent of the approximately 3,000 megawatts of renewable capacity in 2018.

Other renewables in the state trailed well behind wind when it game to generation. Hydroelectric facilities accounted for 12 percent of usage, then biomass 7 percent, landfill gas 5 percent, and at the bottom end of the spectrum, solar occupied a mere 4 percent and municipal solid waste the last 3 percent. The major factor advancing all of these possibilities: Public Act 342, which requires electric providers to meet a 12.5 percent renewable energy standard based on retail sales by the end of this year and next, followed by a 15 percent goal in 2021.

Since the 2008 passage of Public Act 342’s forebear, Public Act 295, $3.4 billion of investment have brought in more than 1,700 megawatts of renewable energy projects to Michigan.