Lansing Board of Water and Light - Renewables Portfolio Goal

Summary

In 2007 Lansing's municipal electric utility, the Lansing Board of Water and Light (LBWL), established a series of goals for meeting customers' electricity demand with renewable energy. The goals set by the LBWL Board of Commissioners increase gradually, from 2% of retail sales in 2008, to 5% in 2012, and 7% by 2016. As this is a self-imposed policy, there are no punitive provisions should the targets not be met and the Board of Commissioners is free to make future adjustments. The recently enacted state Renewable Energy Standard of 10% renewables by 2015 will eventually supersede LBWL's goal, but compliance under the state standard is not scheduled to begin until 2012. According to the LBWL Renewable Energy Plan filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) for the impending state standard, the utility currently owns one hydroelectric facility and one solar facility (a 54 kilowatt PV array installed in December 2008), and has long-term electricity purchase contracts with one other hydroelectric facility and two landfill gas facilities. The utility expects these facilities to generate approximately 97,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity annually from 2010 through 2017 -- roughly 4% of expected 2015 electricity sales -- and slightly more thereafter. With allowances for credit "banking", this generation is expected to be sufficient to meet the state RPS requirements through 2015. Thereafter, the utility intends to add roughly 12 MW of additional solar and wind generating capacity and use biomass co-firing at an existing coal plant to meet the balance of their state mandated 10% compliance requirement.