1. Look for a community solar program to be rolled out during the first quarter of 2015. Mengebier said the group is planning to roll out an initiative in which a West Michigan community would be eligible for a solar farm development. The company would solicit "subscribers" willing to purchase green energy at a higher rate from a new solar energy farm. If the subscribers are there, Consumers Energy would be willing to build a local solar array capable of producing a megawatt of electricity. The installation would likely cover several acres.
2. Stay tuned for news on a potential Gamesa Wind farm development in Muskegon County. Consumers Energy confirmed Dec. 22 that it has been talking to Gamesa Wind about possibly buying electricity from a wind farm in development at the Muskegon County Wastewater Management System...
3. Despite a forecast energy shortage, the Muskegon B.C. Cobb is probably still coming down. Mengebier said that Michigan's Lower Peninsula is on track to have a two- or three-gigawatt shortfall of electricity by April 2016 because of the shutdown down older plants like the B.C. Cobb in Muskegon.
Don't panic -- the lights will stay on. Besides other safeguards in place, the company is required to be able to provide a 15-percent cushion on top of its peak demand, he said.
"We are not predicting that we are not going to be able to meet the environmental needs of our customers," Mengebier said. But closing down smaller coal-based plants like Muskegon's B.C. Cobb because of environmental regulations means that there's a gap that will need to be filled with alternative energy sources or newer plants.
"These are really old plants," he said. "Most of these were built in the 1950s."
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