Jul 12 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press


For the past 20 years or so, Steven Smiley and his wife, Susan Kopka, have transformed their northern Michigan home into an oasis of self-sufficiency.

With passive and active solar panels, a windmill and wood-burning boiler, the couple generate 95% of the energy they need for their 2,400-square-foot Suttons Bay home. They spend only about $500 a year on electric and propane bills for their emergency backup.

Smiley makes just enough power for their needs and isn't inclined to tackle the paperwork to sell excess power to his utility, the Cherryland Electric Cooperative.

But new rules recently adopted by the Michigan Public Service Commission would make it easier for those who want to sell energy they generate.

The Legislature passed sweeping energy bills last year that, in part, required utilities to come up with rules that would allow people generating their own electricity through solar, wind or hydro power to sell any excess back to the utility. That excess can be used to help the utilities reach a mandated goal of 10% of their power generation coming from renewable energy sources.

So far, the big utilities have had few takers. DTE Energy has only 16 people enrolled in its net-metering program and Consumers Energy has 12. Across Michigan, the state Public Service Commission reports only 53 customers are selling back excess energy.

But generous state and federal tax incentives geared toward increasing the amount of renewable energy have utilities gearing up for more participants.

DTE expects up to 1,500 households could join its net-metering program, said Irene Dimitry, DTE's director of renewable energy. The number would include paying people who produce their own electricity, but not enough to sell back to DTE. The utility will get renewable energy credits for the payments made to those people and be able to use those credits toward its 10% renewable energy goal.

Consumers spokesman Dan Bishop said about 50 people are in the process of enrolling for its net-metering program. The utility won't be paying customers for renewable energy credits, "but in the future, we may," he said. "We think it will grow beyond 50, but typical home-installed projects produce so little electricity that we don't see it taking off significantly."

Cost is a factor. Some wind turbines can cost up to $20,000 and solar panel shingles from United Solar Ovonics in Auburn Hills could cost three times as much as a traditional roof. The payback on the investment for a residential customer could take 5 to 10 years for both renewable sources.

But companies that produce the means to generate the clean energy are ramping up production in light of the state and federal tax incentives.

Franklin Wind Energy in Franklin has installed a 5-kilowatt wind turbine on the roof of Wayne State University's College of Engineering Building in Detroit. The turbine will generate enough electricity to power a computer lab at the building. And while that's not enough to sell back to a utility, "We do plan to introduce units by the end of the year that will be equipped to sell to the grid," said Franklin's founder David Koyle.

When Mariah Power, a Reno, Nev., wind power company was looking for a manufacturing site last year, it landed at MasTech, a former auto supply manufacturing plant in Manistee. Since beginning production in April, the plant has produced 200 Windspires, a 1.2-kilowatt-per-hour wind turbine that is designed for residential use and makes virtually no noise. The units cost about $6,500 and MasTech expects to boost production of that model and more powerful ones to 1,000 a month shipped across the world.

"There's a huge demand overseas," said John Holcomb, general manager of the Manistee plant. "And pretty soon, we'll see a bigger impact in the United States."

Any increase will require communities across Michigan to come up with rules and ordinances regulating the placement of wind turbines and solar panels in residential areas. While more than 200 townships already have come up with wind ordinances, governing where the devices can be placed and how tall they can be, most communities are grappling with the issue now.

Residents in some areas have been more than happy to welcome wind turbines to their backyards, said David Bertram of the Michigan Township Association.

"Where we get some resistance is areas that are more tourist driven," he said. "People in those areas are saying we're not too excited about this."

In Delta Township, outside Lansing, the elected board started talking with residents about wind turbine regulation last summer when gas prices hit $4 a gallon. The residents also had the opportunity to see and hear a windmill first hand when Horrock's Farm Market installed a wind turbine in the middle of town in 2007.

"Our timing was good because it all coincided with the gas spikes of 2008, so there was a lot of sympathetic reaction," said Jeff Huard, who drafted the wind zoning ordinance for Delta Township.

Contact KATHLEEN GRAY: 313-223-4407 or kgray99@freepress.com

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