Michigan’s Healthy Climate Plan
On Nov 28, 2023, Gretchen Whitmer signed Michigan's 'MI Healthy Climate Plan'.
This establishes a 100% clean energy standard for the state. "By 2040, Michigan will produce all its energy from clean sources. By 2030, Michigan will produce 50% of its energy from renewable sources and 60% from renewables by 2035. The new clean energy standard will protect Michigan’s air, land, and water for future generations." [1]
Additionally, " Starting in 2035, they'll have to generate 80 percent of their power from clean sources such as nuclear and natural gas with carbon capture technology that removes carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants." [2]
The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes detailed statistics on the energy mix in each state [3]. This illustrates where Michigan is today and illustrates the challenges in meeting these goals.
Today, the 30.5 GW of generation capability in Michigan is dominated by natural gas. The clean sources of electricity constitute 28% of the capacity to generate electricity. However, this generation capacity only operates part of the time. The average capacity factor, the ratio of energy actually generated to the energy that could be generated, was 44%. This was not spread evenly among the different generation sources. So today, Michigan is getting 34% of its electricity from clean energy sources.
This legislation will lead to removing coal and natural gas from service. This will happen from the late 2020's through 2040.
One of the challenges will be expanding solar and wind, which today contribute less than 9%. Solar especially will be challenging due to short winter nights and cloudy winter weather.
Space based solar power (SBSP) has the potential to solve the challenges with ground solar in places like Michigan. Collecting solar from an orbit that is always in sunlight makes it possible to beam power to the ground at all times. This can reduce the need for storage and backup generation, reducing electricity costs. Today, at Virtus Solis Technologies, a Michigan based company, we are working on making this future of clean, inexpensive energy a reality.
References:
[1] https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2023/11/28/governor-whitmer-signs-historic-clean-energy-climate-action-package
[2] https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/whitmer-signs-energy-bills-make-michigan-use-clean-energy-2040
[3] https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/michigan/
