WASHINGTON DC - Investors are enthusiastic about QuantumScape, developer of an electric-vehicle battery that promises more power for less cost. If the company succeeds, Tesla could face new challenges. One of the wildest plotlines in the great 2020 electric-vehicle rally was the late-year rise of QuantumScape, a battery startup that has yet to report any
LANSING - Participation in Michigan’s distributed energy generation program continued to grow in 2019 as the program capacity increased 53 percent, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission’s annual report on the state’s distributed generation program. Every year since 2006, participation has grown in the program, and 2019 was no different. The MPSC’s 2019 Distributed Generation Program
LANSING - The Michigan Public Service Commission this week approved a $100 million increase in the electric rates for Consumers Energy, increasing a residential customer using 500 kilowatt hours of electricity by $9.17 more per month, an 11.93 percent increase. Consumers had sought an increase in its electric rates of approximately $254 million, which would have a total impact to customers of $289
NOVI - ITC Michigan, which owns and operates the high-voltage electricity grid in most of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, has once again lit up one of its 150-foot tall transmission towers in Novi with colorful holiday decorations. The transmission tower is decorated with approximately one-third mile of rope lights (17,700 bulbs). The display includes a 10-
CHICAGO - Invenergy, a global developer and operator of green energy generation and storage, announced a 1,310-megawatt solar farm in northeastern Texas - the largest in the US upon completion. The solar farm is currently under construction. The Samson Solar Energy Center, as it’s called, will support five major consumer brands and supply power to
LANSING - Despite a long-term forecast for a comparatively normal Michigan winter, demand for home heating fuel is expected to rise as more Michiganders continue to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the MPSC’s 2020-2021 Winter Energy Appraisal. The continued impact of the pandemic has thrown a curveball to forecasting, given unknowns about
ANN ARBOR—The Great Lakes support more than 1.3 million jobs that generate $82 billion in wages annually, according to a new analysis of 2018 economic data by Michigan Sea Grant. The coastal counties of the eight Great Lakes states produce 21% of the gross domestic product in the region and 5.8% of the U.S. GDP,
NOVI—ITC Holdings Corp., the nation’s largest independent electricity transmission company in the United States, has named Jenny D’Anna as vice president and deputy general counsel, legal services. In this role, D’Anna is responsible for the legal services group within ITC’s legal department. That group is composed of the regulatory and legislative, development, corporate and securities, real
YPSILANTI -The U.S. Department of Energy announced more than $7 million in funding for Michigan-based cybersecurity company, The Dream Team, to develop a first-of-its-kind infrastructure that protects the electric grid from cyber-attacks on electric vehicles and electric vehicle charging systems. Once developed, testing of the electric roadways and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology will be conducted at
NEW YORK - After decades of false starts, hydrogen technology is poised to take off as falling production costs, technological improvements, and a global push toward sustainability converge, according to Bank of America. The firm believes this will generate $2.5 trillion in direct revenue — or $4 trillion if revenue from associated products such as
