Michigan Energy Data

The Michigan Public Service Commission has released two reports documenting the status of energy initiatives in the state in 2016, with the first report focused on renewable energy and the other centered on energy-efficiency (EE) programs.

The EE report details reductions in energy usage associated with various utility conservation and EE offerings, leading the commission to conclude that existing energy-efficiency measures continue to provide affirmative customer benefits. The reports demonstrate that consumers have benefitted as well from ongoing growth in renewable energy projects.

Among the findings in the EE report is that providers of energy services met a combined average of 128% of their electric energy savings targets and 125% of their natural gas energy savings targets in 2016. As to renewables, the report shows that wind power remains the primary source of new renewable energy in Michigan, with more projects expected as the state’s renewable energy mandate increases over the next few years.

Other data disclosed in the renewable energy report include the following:

1. Wind accounts for 69% of renewable energy capacity in Michigan, with hydroelectric at 13%, biomass at 7%, landfill gas at 5%, and solar and municipal solid waste at 3% each;
2. In 2017, DTE Electric completed the largest solar project in Michigan, a 48-megawatt (MW) facility in Lapeer County;
3. There has been $3.3 billion of investment in the renewable energy sector statewide since the passage of Public Act 295 in 2008, resulting in approximately 1,670 MW of projects coming online through 2017; and
4. The average cost for renewable energy contracts is $72.60 per megawatt-hour (MWh), far lower than the $133 per MWh for coal.

The report conveys that the most recent wind power contracts approved by the commission have levelized costs in the $45 - $69 per MWh range, approximately half of the levelized cost of the first renewable energy contracts approved in 2009 and 2010. When the costs of all renewable energy sources are weighted, the average cost comes to $72.60 per MWh, substantially lower than the cost of conventional fossil fuelfired generation.