Michigan just passed one of the country’s most…

Michigan’s Democrat-controlled legislature has passed a package of clean energy bills that includes one of the most aggressive state-level clean energy targets in the nation.

Senate Bill 271, which requires the state’s major utilities to achieve 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2040, as well as bills 273, 502 and 519, were passed on party-line votes in the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, where Democrats hold narrow majorities. Michigan is now one of several states in which Democrats won governing ​“trifectas” in the 2022 midterm elections and then proceeded to enact significant climate policy.

Michigan state Republicans opposed the bills, saying they would increase energy costs. But Democratic backers argued that they will fight climate change and reduce energy costs for disadvantaged communities and the state as a whole by expanding reliance on low-cost renewable energy and capturing federal incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The bills closely match a plan put forward by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D), who is expected to sign them. Whitmer has already issued an executive order calling for the state to achieve economywide carbon-neutrality by 2050.

Senate Bill 271 is the marquee bill in the legislative package. The bill would order the state’s two big investor-owned utilities, Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, to undertake a course to reach 80 percent carbon-free electricity sales by 2035 and 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2040. Like many of the country’s largest utilities, Consumers and DTE have both set their own goals of reaching carbon-neutral generation portfolios by 2040 and 2050, respectively, but they were not under state mandate to reach those targets.

State lawmakers and regulators are key actors in driving change at utilities, with the power to order them to shut down fossil-fuel-fired power plants and procure more clean energy as part of their long-term investment plans. In order for the U.S. to meet its Paris Agreement emissions-reduction goals, states will need to aggressively exercise that power.

Of the 23 states that have 100 percent carbon-free energy laws or executive orders in place, Connecticut, Minnesota, New York and Oregon share Michigan’s new timeline, while Rhode Island has set a 2033 target for 100 percent of the state’s electricity to be offset by renewable generation. California, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Virginia and Washington have also set 100 percent carbon-free mandates with later deadlines, as have Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

Michigan’s new clean energy mandate is not focused on renewable energy alone. The bill will require 60 percent of utility electricity sales to come from wind, solar and other renewable energy sources by 2034 — well above the 16 percent of electricity provided by renewables by the state’s utilities as of last year. But it would allow the remaining portion of its 100 percent target to come from nuclear power, as well as fossil gas power plants that can capture at least 90 percent of their carbon emissions.

These provisions angered some environmental groups who warn that carbon capture at power plants remains a costly and unproven solution. Environmental groups were also disappointed that lawmakers backed off from the even more aggressive targets included in the initial clean energy package introduced earlier this year: 60 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.

A group of environmental justice organizations laid out these complaints in an October 27 letter to lawmakers, saying the bill will allow ​“utilities to increase their rates to pay for dangerous, costly, and toxic projects like more gas power plants with carbon capture, dirty hydrogen, landfill and factory farm gas, and new nuclear power.”

John Delurey, senior regional director at nonprofit group Vote Solar, echoed these concerns in social media posts. He praised some provisions of Senate Bill 271, such as lifting the state’s cap on rooftop solar as a share of the state’s renewable energy mix and committing the state to building 2,500 megawatts of battery storage capacity by 2030.

“But it also lost key policy priorities like community solar and Justice40-aligned commitments thanks to utility influence,” he wrote. In particular, “[t]he new ​‘clean’ definition includes incinerators and fossil gas plants. Any gas plant, new or existing, that reduces carbon emissions by 90% by 2040 can pollute in perpetuity.”

Even so, the 2040 carbon-free target set in Senate Bill 271 will lay the groundwork for the state to speed up the pace of carbon reduction over the coming decade, according to data from nonprofit think tank RMI’s Energy Policy Simulator for Michigan. The policy would also improve public health by reducing pollution and boosting jobs and economic activity, based on data from the tool. (Canary Media is an independent affiliate of RMI.)