TCL&P Board to consider renewable energy goal | Local News

TRAVERSE CITY — When customers of Traverse City Light & Power flip the switch, they soon might be receiving more of their electricity from renewable energy sources.

The question of whether the utility should set a goal to have 100 percent of its energy come from renewable sources is part of a strategic plan that will go before the TCL&P Board at its Aug. 14 meeting.

It is separate from the city’s goal to have city operations be 100 percent renewable by 2020.

How ratepayers would be impacted would depend on where and how the power is purchased by the utility, TCL&P Executive Director Tim Arends said. The smaller the energy project, the more it tends to cost.

“We’ll do a financial analysis on each project presented to the board and the board will have to make a decision on if and how it impacts customer rates,” he said.

TCL&P has the third lowest residential rates in the State of Michigan and the fifth lowest for commercial and industrial rates, according to Arends.

Currently, 12 percent of the energy from TCL&P comes from renewable resources, he said. The goal is to raise that number to 40 percent by 2025, and 100 percent by 2040.

The renewable energy comes from solar, landfill gas and wind projects that the utility has invested in, Arends said.

Kate Madigan, director of the Michigan Climate Action Network, said the majority of TCL&P’s energy presently comes from two coal power plants: Belle River and Campbell No. 3.

“When there are wind or solar projects, TCL&P then will replace its existing load with renewable energy sources,” Madigan said, adding that the owners of the two coal plants plan to retire them by 2030.

The previous strategic plan did not include a goal to have any specific percentage of renewable energy resources, Arends said.

“That became one of the highest issues the board wanted to discuss,” he said. “They came out (of the May strategic planning retreat) stating they wanted to set a goal, understanding all the challenges related to that.”

TCL&P Board Chairperson Pat McGuire said he thinks most of the board supports having a large percentage of renewable energy.

“Whether we can get to 100 percent is a ways off,” he noted. “To be honest, it’s going to require some new technologies that would allow us to get there.

“Whether that exact wording (in the proposed plan) gets approved (is unknown),” McGuire added. “I would say something substantially along those lines would be something the board would approve.”