By Craig Manning
|
Aug. 29, 2024
One of northern Michigan’s electric utilities is on track to hit a 100 percent carbon-free energy goal well ahead of schedule.
Cherryland Electric Cooperative is a member of the larger Wolverine Power Cooperative, a nonprofit member-owned power generation co-op with multiple rural electric cooperative members throughout the state. According to a new press release from Wolverine, the co-op is “on track to achieve 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2030, 10 years ahead of Michigan’s 2040 target.” By extension, Cherryland Electric will also be a totally carbon-free power provider by the end of the decade.
“We have integrated clean energy into our portfolio for years and are proud to lead the way in Michigan,” said Eric Baker, CEO of Wolverine Power Cooperative. “Our priority is to approach this transition thoughtfully, ensuring our members and their communities receive carbon-free energy that is both affordable and reliable.”
Carbon-free and clean energy goals have been a big trend in the electricity world over the past 10 years. Last year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a “Clean Energy & Climate Action Package” of bills into Michigan law, including a new 100 percent clean energy standard. Under that standard, Michigan pledges to produce 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, 60 percent by 2035, and 100 percent by 2040. The legislation was touted as a way to “protect Michigan’s air, land, and water for future generations” and to “drive down costs for consumers while reducing the state’s reliance on foreign fuel…”
Similar standards have also been adopted in northern Michigan, including pledges by the City of Traverse City to use clean energy for all its own metered operations by 2020 and a goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy community-wide by 2040.
Speaking to The Ticker, Cherryland Electric CEO Rachel Johnson expresses enthusiasm about the Wolverine Power announcement and how it puts Cherryland “on track to meet and exceed Michigan’s new clean energy standards and to do so faster and more reliably than anyone else.”
“As we continue to navigate the complexities of the clean energy transformation, I am deeply grateful for the trust our members and community place in us to help them meet their energy goals,” Johnson says. “With their support, we have built a resilient, industry-leading power supply portfolio that is clean, reliable and affordable.”
The primary driver behind Wolverine’s quicker-than-average pivot to renewable sources is the cooperative’s recent commitment to buy the majority of the power produced by the soon-to-be-rebooted Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, located between South Haven and Benton Harbor. The Ticker took a look at that agreement back in April, exploring how the previously decommissioned nuclear plant might soon impact northern Michigan’s power grid. Johnson said at the time that Cherryland was already 60 percent carbon-free, and that the impending restart of Palisades – along with numerous under-construction solar projects throughout the state – would bring the utility to “well over 90 percent carbon-free.”