LANSING – Adopting a Michigan renewable portfolio standard that would require that at least 10 percent of the state’s energy came from renewable sources by 2015 could force energy cost increases of as much as 39 percent, a spokesperson for the auto industry told the Senate Energy Policy and Public Utilities Committee on Thursday.
But representatives of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation said creation of an RPS is critical to get energy development companies to come into the state.
Committee chair Sen. Bruce Patterson (R-Canton) said he was bowled over when representatives of the auto industry came to him to say they saw their energy costs jumping by 39 percent if an RPS was implemented.
He said he wanted them to testify before the committee on the numbers that they presented him.
Jeff White with Ford said the numbers were based on a series of assumptions and could be changed based on what DTE Energy and Consumers Energy do, but they were concerned that requiring energy to come from renewable resources could drive up costs in energy.
But officials from the MEDC said that cost comparisons for such energy sources as biomass production were very competitive with other energy production sources.
And they said the alternative energy industry, especially the manufacturing sector, tends to locate in areas that have RPS so they can have a local market for their products.
Doug Parks of the MEDC said the corporation had established clusters to focus on a variety of renewable energy resource companies, with their key focuses on wind turbines, biofuels especially from cellulosic materials and solar photovoltaic manufacturing. The state is also looking at the advance energy storage, water technology and carbon dioxide capture.
Some industries offer major spinoff opportunities, Parks and others said, especially biofuels which can also lead to the development of biochemicals and bioproducts.
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