Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the State of Michigan $129.1 million from the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy like wind, solar, and storage.
The investment will help Michigan meet its 60% renewable energy and 100% clean energy standards set under the recently enacted clean energy laws. Getting this done will create good-paying jobs, drive down energy costs, and protect the state’s air, land, and water.
The funding will allow the state to launch Renewables Ready Communities (RRC). Administered by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), the program will incentivize the permitting of renewable energy projects through local processes. The RRC Program will help overcome barriers to siting renewable energy and help the state reach its goal of 60% renewable energy by 2030.
Deploying renewable energy at scale is critical to meeting the state’s climate and energy goals, and siting is arguably the most important barrier we face to build more solar, wind, and so much more across Michigan. The RRC includes five strategies:
• Expanding the Renewables Ready Communities Award pilot, an initiative launched in 2024 with a one-time state investment of $30 million, that provides financial incentives, on top of tax revenue and community benefits, to local and tribal governments that approve and host utility-scale renewable energy and energy storage through local processes.
• Creating the Brownfield Renewable Energy Pilot program to provide grants for renewable energy projects on brownfields, incentivizing deployment on brownfields.
• Strengthening EGLE’s Renewable Energy Academy to develop technical assistance for local and tribal governments to improve planning, siting, and permitting processes for renewable energy facilities and the new Brownfield Renewable Energy Pilot program.
• Supporting workforce development programs, in coordination with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, to ensure Michigan has the workforce needed to build enough renewable energy to meet the state’s 2030 goals.
• Developing a Renewables Ready Communities Strategic Plan to ensure a comprehensive strategy for utility-scale and brownfield renewable energy projects to meet the state’s 60% renewable energy by 2030 goals.
This funding was made available from the IRA’s CPRG program, a $5 billion competitive grant program for states, local governments, tribes, and territories to implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollution.
In April 2023, EGLE was awarded a $3 million planning grant from the CPRG program. Today’s funding is a part of the CPRG’s implementation grants, and the state’s effort to leverage the CPRG program to accelerate implementation of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, the state’s climate action roadmap. This funding is an important step toward achieving the goals of the?MI Healthy Climate Plan, and the recently enacted clean energy laws.
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