The Zeeland Board of Works generating facility at 347 E. Washington Ave. The BPW board and city are considering whether to join as a partner with a proposed Michigan Public Power Agency project in Zeeland as part of addressing future power supply needs.
By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland Board of Public Works is facing some major decisions in the coming weeks regarding how it addresses the city’s future power supply needs.
One such decision is: does the utility join in as a partner with the Michigan Public Power Agency to develop a project in Zeeland that would be owned by MPPA and integrated into a statewide portfolio of projects in MPPA-member communities, or does it go on its own to develop its own power-generating facility?
Those options were discussed at a joint meeting of the BPW Board of Directors and the City Council last Thursday at the Howard Miller Community Center, where BPW unveiled its Integrated Resource Plan to address the utility’s long-term electric generation needs.
The IRP has identified a need for BPW to develop additional capacity, the result of economic growth, expansion by local industry and the eventual retirement of existing power supply resources.
“We’ve got resource options available to us, but because of timing, of supply chain and (Midcontinent Independent System Operator power grid) queues and so on, our optimal conditions can’t be met,” BPW General Manager Andrew Boatright said.
BPW needs to increase its capacity by at least 30 megawatts by 2030 and possibly as much as 125 megawatts by 2050, said Brad Kushner of nFront Consulting, which has worked with BPW and the city on the IRP.
One of the options being proposed is to partner with MPPA, a municipal joint action agency comprised of 22 municipal-owned electric utilities across the state, including the BPW who has been a longtime member. MPPA is working through a multi-year effort to evaluate and potentially develop power-generating facilities within its member communities.
“Investments in and/or contracts for brand-new thermal and/or battery energy storage system power supply resources will be required, in order to address our resource adequacy needs,” said Steve Donkersloot, MPPA’s director of strategic energy resources and services. “We believe the best way in doing this is by locating the resources locally within member communities.”
Zeeland is hardly alone among municipal utilities across the state in having future resource needs. The current forecasted total capacity need for MPPA’s member utilities by 2030 is about 215 megawatts.
By partnering with MPPA, Donkersloot says BPW can take advantage of economies of scale, resulting in lower building, equipment, administration and operational costs as opposed to the utility building a project on their own.
Boatright said that joining in with the MPPA is one solution to resolving BPW’s capacity needs. The other is going alone and building its own generating facility.
“Sole ownership would involve pretty substantial, robust financing,” he said. “It’s not out of the question for us. We’re financially healthy. We don’t know what the number would be. Our credit rating is good … it’s certainly within reach.”
In a customer survey of 226 respondents last October, reliability was rated far and away the most important priority for BPW in addressing future generating needs, with rates and affordability ranking second.
Councilman Phung Lam spoke of the importance of addressing future energy needs for Zeeland’s vast industrial base, which accounts for the majority of BPW’s power usage.
“I can’t sit here and tell our big industry that we can’t provide power … We owe it to our customers to make sure reliability is the number one thing that we have here. That goes with what we believe in as a city of Zeeland,” Lam said.
Donkersloot, a Zeeland native and former general manager of Lowell Light & Power, said that a decision by the city whether to be a partner in the MPPA project needs to come sooner rather than later.
“If MPPA is going to be the owner, that means we’re going to have to work on things like lease agreements between MPPA and the city of Zeeland,” he said. “That means we’re going to have to have interconnection agreements whereby MPPA’s resource is allowed to interconnect to you. Also, understanding how big of a project … could be built here plays into how we allocate megawatts to other (utilities).”
BPW Board Chairwoman Linda Boerman encouraged her fellow board members and the council to keep an open mind on the MPPA option.
“We have to think about not only 2030, but 2050, the 2060s – decisions … that are going to affect not only today, but 20, 30 years from now,” Boerman said. “We can’t just look at the dollar sign, but we have to look at the benefits down the road.”
BPW’s last IRP was completed in 2012. In crafting the updated plan, there have been three stakeholder meetings over the last seven months where the utility and its consultants heard feedback from both residential and business interests on addressing Zeeland’s future energy needs.
Last Thursday’s discussion with the BPW board and City Council was videotaped. The full video as well as details of the IRP can be viewed at zeelandbpw.com/power-plan.
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland Board of Public Works is facing some major decisions in the coming weeks regarding how it addresses the city’s future power supply needs.
One such decision is: does the utility join in as a partner with the Michigan Public Power Agency to develop a project in Zeeland that would be owned by MPPA and integrated into a statewide portfolio of projects in MPPA-member communities, or does it go on its own to develop its own power-generating facility?
Those options were discussed at a joint meeting of the BPW Board of Directors and the City Council last Thursday at the Howard Miller Community Center, where BPW unveiled its Integrated Resource Plan to address the utility’s long-term electric generation needs.
The IRP has identified a need for BPW to develop additional capacity, the result of economic growth, expansion by local industry and the eventual retirement of existing power supply resources.
“We’ve got resource options available to us, but because of timing, of supply chain and (Midcontinent Independent System Operator power grid) queues and so on, our optimal conditions can’t be met,” BPW General Manager Andrew Boatright said.
BPW needs to increase its capacity by at least 30 megawatts by 2030 and possibly as much as 125 megawatts by 2050, said Brad Kushner of nFront Consulting, which has worked with BPW and the city on the IRP.
One of the options being proposed is to partner with MPPA, a municipal joint action agency comprised of 22 municipal-owned electric utilities across the state, including the BPW who has been a longtime member. MPPA is working through a multi-year effort to evaluate and potentially develop power-generating facilities within its member communities.
“Investments in and/or contracts for brand-new thermal and/or battery energy storage system power supply resources will be required, in order to address our resource adequacy needs,” said Steve Donkersloot, MPPA’s director of strategic energy resources and services. “We believe the best way in doing this is by locating the resources locally within member communities.”
Zeeland is hardly alone among municipal utilities across the state in having future resource needs. The current forecasted total capacity need for MPPA’s member utilities by 2030 is about 215 megawatts.
By partnering with MPPA, Donkersloot says BPW can take advantage of economies of scale, resulting in lower building, equipment, administration and operational costs as opposed to the utility building a project on their own.
Boatright said that joining in with the MPPA is one solution to resolving BPW’s capacity needs. The other is going alone and building its own generating facility.
“Sole ownership would involve pretty substantial, robust financing,” he said. “It’s not out of the question for us. We’re financially healthy. We don’t know what the number would be. Our credit rating is good … it’s certainly within reach.”
In a customer survey of 226 respondents last October, reliability was rated far and away the most important priority for BPW in addressing future generating needs, with rates and affordability ranking second.
Councilman Phung Lam spoke of the importance of addressing future energy needs for Zeeland’s vast industrial base, which accounts for the majority of BPW’s power usage.
“I can’t sit here and tell our big industry that we can’t provide power … We owe it to our customers to make sure reliability is the number one thing that we have here. That goes with what we believe in as a city of Zeeland,” Lam said.
Donkersloot, a Zeeland native and former general manager of Lowell Light & Power, said that a decision by the city whether to be a partner in the MPPA project needs to come sooner rather than later.
“If MPPA is going to be the owner, that means we’re going to have to work on things like lease agreements between MPPA and the city of Zeeland,” he said. “That means we’re going to have to have interconnection agreements whereby MPPA’s resource is allowed to interconnect to you. Also, understanding how big of a project … could be built here plays into how we allocate megawatts to other (utilities).”
BPW Board Chairwoman Linda Boerman encouraged her fellow board members and the council to keep an open mind on the MPPA option.
“We have to think about not only 2030, but 2050, the 2060s – decisions … that are going to affect not only today, but 20, 30 years from now,” Boerman said. “We can’t just look at the dollar sign, but we have to look at the benefits down the road.”
BPW’s last IRP was completed in 2012. In crafting the updated plan, there have been three stakeholder meetings over the last seven months where the utility and its consultants heard feedback from both residential and business interests on addressing Zeeland’s future energy needs.
Last Thursday’s discussion with the BPW board and City Council was videotaped. The full video as well as details of the IRP can be viewed at zeelandbpw.com/power-plan.
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