LANSING, MI— The state House Energy Committee has passed bills designed to keep the U.P.’s RICE generators operational through 2049.
The legislation sponsored by Rep. Karl Bohnak would exempt the generators from Michigan’s clean energy mandates, which call for all energy generation to be green by 2040.
The 13 reciprocating internal combustion engines are bonded out until 2049. Bohnak says if they’re forced offline early, U.P. residents would continue to pay both for the generators and whatever energy source takes their place.
The engines were built to stabilize the region’s energy grid following the decommissioning of the Presque Isle and Shiras coal power plants in 2019.
