$1.9M federal award will support renewable deployment

Kate Holloway
·2 min read

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the state $1.9 million to improve planning, siting and permitting processes for large-scale renewable energy projects.

To help reach the state’s newly mandated goal of 100% clean energy by 2040, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy will use that federal award to launch the Michigan Renewable Energy Academy (REA).

As of 2022, 34% of Michigan’s electricity came from natural gas; 29% from coal-fired power; 22% from nuclear power; and 12% was from renewables, the majority of which came from wind energy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.

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EGLE will lead the new REA, in partnership with the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute, Michigan State University Extension, 5 Lakes Energy and the Michigan Association of Planning.

R-STEP funding will serve to consolidate “all resources, services and experts relevant to energy planning and zoning into the one-stop shop with the REA,” said EGLE officials in a news release.

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“This investment from the U.S. Department of Energy is another tool to help Michigan communities continue to build out renewable energy at the scope and scale necessary to meet the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, the state’s climate action roadmap,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos.

FILE - Wind turbines turn behind a solar farm in Rapshagen, Germany, Oct. 28, 2021. Germany has called for governments around the world to work on setting an ambitious target for renewable energy that would "ring in the end of the fossil fuel age" and help prevent dangerous global warming. Germany welcomed a deal Friday, June 16, 2023 among European Union countries to increase by more than a third the bloc’s renewable energy target for 2030. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
(AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

The award from the U.S. Department of Energy is part of a total of $10 million allocated across seven states, in order “to develop and expand statewide initiatives comparable to the REA,” EGLE officials said.

The DOE will also award up to $12 million to states in a second round of its Renewable Energy Siting through Technical Engagement and Planning program.

“Enabling large-scale renewable energy projects can unlock opportunities for community wealth-building, create good-paying jobs and support workforce development, increase grid resilience and energy independence, and support electricity bill savings, especially in rural or underserved communities,” EGLE officials said.

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