Last year, while I was busy yelling at the legiscritters over the budget battle business tax replacement, the state announced a joint project with John Deere Wind Energy, Wolverine Power, and the Harvest Wind Farm, to build the state's first commercial wind farm in Huron County. Alternative energy wasn't really on my radar, turns out the governor already had this in her sights and the beginning of the energy proposals that you see today were already underway. I guess we could file this under, "Things We Should Have Paid Attention To Instead of Mike".
Fast forward to January of this year. 32 wind turbines were up and running and producing power to Wolverine, who in turn was selling it to people like DTE and others. Yesterday, the governor toured the farm for the first time, taking along the media and other dignitaries like my old buddy Ken Sikkema. Watch the video- they are rather hypnotic in motion.
Someday I'll get over there and take some pictures; the people in Huron County would like that - some would like to see it become a tourist attraction. The income would go well with the royalties the farmers now receive from leasing their land.
Harvest Wind Farm's 32 wind turbines near this small Thumb town have proven popular so far, adding $22 million in taxable value to Oliver Township's tax base and bringing thousands of dollars in annual lease payments and royalties to family farms. Locals hope the wind farm, which could power a community of 14,000 homes, might become a tourist attraction.
The emphasis on this trip was, of course, jobs, taking precedence over benefits to the environment, but we will take both. These turbines were shipped all the way from Denmark (which gets 20% of their power from wind) - no reason why we can't make them here. The AP explains-
Michigan is the 14th-windiest state in the country. It also has a manufacturing base with more than 2,000 companies capable of making parts for wind turbines and other renewable-energy components, according to the Granholm administration.
Michigan ranks second overall in combined wind generation and manufacturing potential, Granholm said. It can cost $300,000 to transport a wind turbine, one reason she wants to require that 10 percent of Michigan's electricity come from wind and other renewable sources by the end of 2015.
"They want to sell where they manufacture," Granholm said of wind-component companies.
And manufacture we can do - some machining shops are converting as quick as they can to produce the parts for these things. But only some at this point, for other companies to start thinking about coming to Michigan, the need for the RPS was stressed once again. Here's Ken, finally free of having to tow the hard-right Republican line-
A lot of corporations have come to Michigan, have said that if Michigan has a renewable portfolio standard, you'll likely see manufacturing follow.
But alas, some on the right will continue to disavow the need for an RPS, and I guess we need to keep throwing the numbers back in their face. Yesterday, the MSU Land Policy Institute took Mike Cox to task for his bad attitude-
Cox said the proposal would cause electricity prices to rise, and provide few new jobs.
However, a Land Policy Institute study shows that with a Michigan RPS, wind power alone in Michigan would produce 1,100 construction jobs per year for the next two decades, 218 permanent jobs related to the management and maintenance of wind installations by 2010, and 3,010 permanent, continuing jobs related to the management and maintenance of wind installations by 2029.
The study also says the RPS would cause $1.25 billion per year in construction-related new investments and spending in Michigan over the next two decades, $464 million in continuous annual spending in maintenance and management by 2010 and $4.4 billion by 2029, $21 million per year in new construction wages for the next two decades, $7.6 million in permanent annual wages by 2010 and $96 million by 2029 and $4.8 million in lease payments to landowners per year by 2010 and $47 million per year by 2029.
Money, jobs and saving the environment too. Proving the nay-sayers like Cox and Bishop wrong once again is just an added bonus.
It would be a shame if the Senate obstructed this proposal and we lost this opportunity - let's hope they get it done, and get it done soon. To leave it until after the fall election, or even worse, a future legislature, would be a travesty. |
