So, BWL’s energy plan for the future was so well-tuned the utility now needs a three-month “time out” to revamp it before a citizen advisory panel continues its review?
That was the message BWL’s George Stojic delivered to the citizen panel, according to a report in the City Pulse.
Circumstances have changed, Stojic says, in explaining the delay. What happened to the certainty BWL once displayed when it first unveiled its plan to build a new coal/biomass electric plant?
Understand, I think it likely that BWL will build some kind of coal-fired plant to replace the aging Eckert station downtown. Coal remains the cheapest fuel for the near term. The exact size of the new plant and its timing aren’t clear-cut, though.
Michigan’s energy policies generally have been awry for a couple of years now because they were predicated on the belief the state was going to need a boost in baseload power. “Michigan’s load growth is expected to grow an average of 1.2 percent per year over the next 20 years,” stated the report from the Public Service Commission in 2007, written when Peter Lark was PSC chairman.
With Michigan’s economy slumping, those projections are most likely inoperative. In fact, one could argue that a truly aggressive energy efficiency campaign might be enough to cover additional demands for power.
That still leaves the case of what to do with aging power plants like BWL’s Eckert. Unless there are huge changes in the effectiveness of wind and solar power, they won’t be enough for a new baseload plant in Lansing. Maybe the best bargain for Lansing will be a smaller coal plant backed up with a variety of alternatives.
For now, BWL ratepayers will have to wait and see what Plan B is from the folks over at Haco Drive.
