Why Not Ohio? Michigan Institute Calls for Feed-in Tariffs at Municipal Utility

[Rick Rowlands]

Saving the planet from what?  Socialism?

[irishbobcat]

Ever party need a pooper, that's why? town......

[Why?Town]

So Traverse City Light & Power installed a commercial-scale wind turbines in 1996 and has done little with renewable energy since that pioneering project.

Companies that invest in something that turns out profitable usually continue to build on that investment. Hmmm.....

[irishbobcat]

Why Not Ohio? Michigan Institute Calls for Feed-in Tariffs at Municipal Utility

Paul Gipe wrote last week that  the Michigan Land Institute has proposed that Traverse City Light & Power implement a system of feed-in tariffs to wean the municipal utility from its dependence on coal.

Traverse City Light & Power is a municipal utility serving the small town of 15,000 in the "little finger" of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Traverse City is the largest town in a 14-country region. The utility is better known for installing one of the first, if not the first, municipally-owned, commercial-scale wind turbines in 1996. The utility has done little with renewable energy since that pioneering project.

The Institute, a Traverse City non-profit, urged the utility's board of directors to both implement an aggressive program of energy efficiency and launch a program to develop clean sources of energy, including wind, solar, and biomass.

The Land Institute's recommendations are contained in a report titled 20-20 by 2020: a Clear Vision for Clean Energy Prosperity. The report, among other recommendations, urges the utility's board to adopt feed-in tariffs to encourage locally-owned wind and solar energy. The Institute argues that feed-in tariffs, in contrast to tax subsidies, allows both non-profits and profit-making enterprises to participate. Through feed-in tariffs, says the Land Institute, the utility need not raise its own capital to build solar and wind projects in the community, the utility's ratepayers make the investment themselves and revenues they earn return directly to the community where they live.

If Traverse City Light & Power moves on the recommendations, the utility would be following in the footsteps of Gainesville Regional Utilities, a Florida municipal utility that launched a highly regarded solar feed-in tariff in 2009.

Why Not Ohio? It's because we have a current pro-dirty coal and nuke Governor in Ted Strickland who will not go the extra mile to encourage locally-owned wind and solar energy. When you are a puppet to dirty-coal and nuke lobbyists like Ted Strickland is, saving the planet is not a concern.