Whenever the Senate energy committee in Lansing meets, the place is packed. Utilities, customers supporting "green" and renewable energy legislation, entrepreneurs promoting alternative energy, and people of every stripe in between jam the meeting room. Everyone is keenly interested in finding out what the Senate plans to do, but if anyone knows anything, they're not saying a word.

As the nation continues to look toward cleaner and more renewable energy sources to fuel electricity, wind energy is becoming a more viable option, and recent data suggests that Northern Michigan’s hilly terrain and proximity to the Great Lakes make it an ideal area to harvest this inextinguishable source of power. ...“The common lifestyle people only think about their energy source when they pay their bill once a month, and if their power ever goes out,” he said. “More expensive energy will get people to conserve more, and use power more wisely. We can still live a good life this way.” Yet, wind energy is not without its detractors — some residents complain of the low hum produced by the blades.

"Offshore (wind turbine sites) can be a can of worms," said Dickens, who is part of the Michigan wind outreach team from the Michigan Energy Office. "We don't have to go there yet. There are a lot of inland areas that we can use for wind development." Dickens might not want to "go there," but there are plenty of people considering the huge potential for wind turbine development on Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes. ...From an environmental standpoint, a lot more study is needed, according to Alan Steinman, director of the GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon. He suggests looking at the affects of such off-shore wind farms on birds and fish.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week toured the 32-turbine Harvest Wind Farm between Pigeon and Elkton in Huron County's Oliver Township. She says the sheer size alone of a turbine is an economic opportunity for Michigan. ...But one crucial ingredient is missing - a law requiring that a certain amount of the state's electricity come from renewable sources such as wind. Twenty-five states have what's known as a renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, and a few others have voluntary goals. ...Senate Energy and Technology Chairman Bruce Patterson could be key in determining the fate of renewable requirements. He says he won't stand in the way of the 10 percent requirement passed by House because there are safeguards to eliminate the mandate if green power costs too ...He also expresses concern about a Standard & Poor's report on power produced by wind. It's still an "infinitesimal" fraction of all electricity, according to the report, which last month raised concerns about the feasibility and cost ramifications of forcing U.S. utilities to comply with renewable mandates. Costs eventually show up on the monthly bills of residents and businesses.

Proposals for five new coal-fired power plants have state environmental lobbyists on fire. In sites near Midland, Rogers City, Manistee, Alma, and Marquette, companies have applied to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for air quality permits needed to start the construction of coal-fired power plants, as recommended by the Public Service Commission's 21st Century energy report released in early 2007. ...Should the state forgo the construction of those plants, however, it would have to depend on out-of-state electricity at a higher cost, said Doug Roberts, executive director of environmental energy policy at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. "We want energy here in Michigan," Roberts said. ...From a jobs standpoint, more people are employed at a power plant than at a wind turbine or other alternative energy plants, Roberts said. "Power plants would provide several hundred jobs to the community that people will work in every day," Roberts said.

But state officials do not have a clear picture on how readily the state's electricity transmission infrastructure could accommodate the added load - a proposed 2,500 megawatts in the Lower Peninsula and 520 in the UP - from new wind-generating sources. A 2006 report from MPSC found that barring "significant enhancements," existing electric generation and transmission capacity would be insufficient to meet reliability standards in the Lower Peninsula by 2009. The MPSC is working on a study with transmission-owning companies to determine the cost of updating Michigan's transmission system. "If we do this smart, and that's a big leap of faith right there, where we see the wind being developed is where they need to build transmission anyway," said Joseph Welch, president and CEO of Novi-based ITC Holdings Corp.

Attorney General Mike Cox on Tuesday blasted legislation he said would significantly raise electricity prices, re-monopolize Michigan's market and not do enough to cap the cost of wind and other green power. Cox, a Republican, commended Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm for pushing renewable energy measures. But he said the effort shouldn't be tied to bills that would limit competition from alternative power companies and change the way big utilities raise electric rates and pay for new plants. No bill can become law unless the full package is signed. Cox also said Granholm is exaggerating the job-creation potential of a renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, which would require that 10 percent of the state's electricity come from green resources by 2016. "We're loading it up with Christmas lights and trying to say it's something more than what it is," said Cox, arguing than an RPS should be touted only for its environmental benefits.

Michigan's drive to renewable energy is generating concern about higher electricity prices. The issue: How, and at what price, will utilities or other energy providers build or purchase renewable power to meet a proposed state mandate that 10 percent of power come from renewable sources by 2015? "They really have to start going to town in a short period of time. And doing that, whether they're building or buying, there will be an additional expense that comes with it. And that's going to come back to the ratepayers," said Chuck Hadden, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Manufacturers Association.

If Michigan is to join 25 states requiring that more electricity come from renewable sources, the Legislature must sort out all kinds of issues -including the price tag. Compared with existing power from old, already-paid-for coal plants, renewable energy is more expensive. The House is considering capping residents' extra costs at no more than $3 a month, or $36 a year over 20 years, which could let power companies off the hook for meeting the renewable energy requirement, known as an RPS. Under legislation pending in the House, commercial customers would pay no more than $190 a year more, while the cap for industrial customers would be $2,250.

City officials say they are making strides in the quest to build one of the nation's first urban wind farms. This week, Wyandotte plans to submit results from a one-year avian study to the U.S. Department of Energy. The findings, coupled with results gathered from two meteorological towers, are encouraging for plans to construct five turbines near the Detroit River, said Melanie McCoy, the city's general manager of municipal services.

The provincial government of Ontario has lifted a ban enacted more than a year ago on offshore wind energy developments and will soon resume accepting applications for such proposals, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources announced. "This government is committed to developing clean, renewable sources of energy so Ontarians will have a sustainable supply of power now and in the future," Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield said in a statement Jan. 17. "Offshore applications we've received to date will be processed, and we are preparing to accept new applications for both onshore and offshore developments."

Consumers Energy plans to develop as many as eight windmill farms in Michigan, officials say. The move is part of the utility's Balanced Energy Initiative, which aims in part to double the amount of renewable energy the company generates from 5 percent to 10 percent by 2015. ...''We need to add 3 million megawatt hours per year ... to go to 10 percent by 2015,'' Rasher said. For the wind farms, Consumers is looking at installing large turbines that generate up to 2.5 megawatts each. Each wind development will generate up to 100 megawatts. But Rasher said the wind farms can only be expected to generate power about 25 percent of the time. That's why Consumers also is planning to build an 800-megawatt coal-fired plant at its Karn-Weadock complex in Bay County's Hampton Township. ''We need some other resource that's dispatchable,'' Rasher said. ''You can't put all your eggs in one basket.''

Officials hope a bill proposing 10% of Michigan's energy be from non-renewable resources by 2015 can help stimulate wind development in Michigan's Thumb region. ...Anna Giovinello, vice president of Noble Environmental Power, said failure to pass the 10% benchmark would not affect the company's Thumb project, but it could have "a chilling effect" on future wind development in the Thumb. "These decisions are made by investors who have to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to build turbines," she said. "It just doesn't make sense to investors to commit that kind of money to a state that doesn't support their projects."

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - States should develop creative approaches to climate change, just as they have with challenges such as health care, despite their different economic interests, governors said Saturday. Talks on state-level climate policy were planned for the annual National Governors Association meeting this weekend at a resort on Lake Michigan, where receding water levels have touched off debate over the effects of global warming on the Great Lakes.

About 15,000 homes and businesses in Michigan's Thumb will get their electric power from wind energy by next spring, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, utility and business officials announced today. A $90 million joint venture between Wolverine Power and John Deere Wind Energy means 32 wind turbines will be built on a 3,200-acre parcel in Huron County this year and will generate 53 megawatts of electricity by March of 2008. "This wind plant will be the first, we hope, of many," Granholm said. "Investments in the alternative energy industry are key to our economic future." Also today, House Democrats announced a package of bills to encourage investment in various forms of alternative energy

Some lawmakers want residents to go green - energywise, that is. They’ve proposed giving residents who buy renewable energy an annual $100 tax break.

The head of the Michigan Public Service Commission says the state must triple the amount of electricity residents gain from wind and other renewable resources within a decade. WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter has more… The Public Service Commission’s J. Peter Lark predicts the demand for electricity in Michigan will rise by more than one percent every year for the next two decades. He says that requires a renewed emphasis on wind power and other renewable sources of electricity. Lark sent a proposal to Governor Jennifer Granholm espousing renewable energy rather than what he calls electricity that comes from volatile and expensive wholesale markets. The Commission is also proposing that the state build a new power plant within eight years.

LANSING -- Michigan needs a major new power plant by 2015 to handle increased electricity demands, according to a report today to the governor on the state's future energy needs. The report was released by the Michigan Public Service Commission, a state agency that oversees utilities. The new plant, which would be built by one of the big utilities, would likely be a coal-fired facility although the report leaves open the possibility of a nuclear plant down the road.

The percentage of Michigan’s electricity that comes from wind and other renewable resources would nearly triple by 2015 under an energy plan submitted Wednesday to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The proposal also outlines a roadmap to building a new coal-fired power plant within 8 years. “Michigan is going to need more power going forward into the 21st century,” said Michigan Public Service Commission J. Peter Lark, who created the plan.

Michigan is exploring ways to grow its alternative energy industry and provide a boost to economic development, but coal-fired power plants are expected to produce most of the state's electricity through at least 2030. The rest of Michigan's electrical power comes mostly from nuclear power plants or natural gas- or oil-fired power plants. A very small percentage of the state's power comes from wind turbines and other renewable resources.