By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
A statewide organization of city-owned electric utilities has proposed an initiative to upgrade its power generating-capabilities into the next decade, and the Zeeland Board of Public Works is being asked to play a significant role in that development.
The Michigan Public Power Agency is proposing the construction of natural gas-fired generating facilities in member communities across the state that would generate a total of 150 megawatts of power by the 2034-35 fiscal year, including 50 MW that would be generated in Zeeland.
The City Council Monday night passed a resolution authorizing BPW to continue its interest in the MPPA initiative.
“There’s no specific action saying we’re committing to anything,” said Bob Mulder, who began his new duties as BPW general manager Monday. “But as we get closer down the line to making a decision, whether it be self-build or with MPPA, we’d like to know that we have the support of council.”
A final decision on whether Zeeland will join the MPPA initiative is expected by the end of the year, Mulder said.
MPPA Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Patrick Bowland outlined the proposed project to the BPW Board of Directors Sept. 15. MPPA is a joint action agency consisting of 22 municipal-owned electric utilities across the state. Zeeland BPW is one of the largest such utilities.
“We’re trying to bring diversification and economies of scale and administrative efficiency to resources that are actually located in our member communities,” Bowland said.
What is driving the proposal is a forecast capacity shortfall of about 126 MW among MPPA’s member utilities. But Bowland says MPPA needs about 150 MW to meet that capacity gap.
“You don’t get megawatt-for-megawatt. The wholesale electric system operator does not give you exactly what you installed as capacity,” he said.
A state law requires MPPA to make a commitment - sooner rather than later — that there will enough generating capacity to meet that shortfall by the 2030-31 fiscal year, Bowland said.
“The goal is by the end of this year, I want to have extremely high confidence in what we’re doing,” Bowland said. “The intent is to go to our respective boards in the (first quarter) of ’27 and have authority to sign contracts (for the new generating facilities).”
While the MPPA proposal calls for 50 MW of power to be generated in Zeeland, the offtake for BPW from the project is expected to be 42 MW, Mulder said.
A number of factors are playing into the increased demand for generating capacity, including economic growth and investment into technology developments such as artificial intelligence. That’s occurring at the same time as some existing power supply resources are expected to come offline.
“We’re seeing load growth that is comparable to the ‘50s and ‘60s … except for this load growth is very different,” Bowland said. “That (past growth) was residential load growth – people were putting air conditioners in, refrigerators, TV sets – that continued on with manufacturing growth as well. But this is very, very chunky load growth. This is load growth where people are adding city-sized loads at one time. So it’s a very different type of planning.”
MPPA considered a number of different fuel sources beyond natural gas, including battery energy storage systems (BESS), diesel, and fuel cells. BESS was identified as a potential source to fill in any gaps if not enough generation through natural gas can be developed, Bowland said.
Before being encouraged to join in the MPPA project, BPW had projected it needed to increase its capacity within Zeeland by least 30 MW by 2030 as part of the utility’s Integrated Resource Plan.
“(The MPPA initiative) provides us with a larger project than we would likely build ourselves
Zeeland Record
A statewide organization of city-owned electric utilities has proposed an initiative to upgrade its power generating-capabilities into the next decade, and the Zeeland Board of Public Works is being asked to play a significant role in that development.
The Michigan Public Power Agency is proposing the construction of natural gas-fired generating facilities in member communities across the state that would generate a total of 150 megawatts of power by the 2034-35 fiscal year, including 50 MW that would be generated in Zeeland.
The City Council Monday night passed a resolution authorizing BPW to continue its interest in the MPPA initiative.
“There’s no specific action saying we’re committing to anything,” said Bob Mulder, who began his new duties as BPW general manager Monday. “But as we get closer down the line to making a decision, whether it be self-build or with MPPA, we’d like to know that we have the support of council.”
A final decision on whether Zeeland will join the MPPA initiative is expected by the end of the year, Mulder said.
MPPA Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Patrick Bowland outlined the proposed project to the BPW Board of Directors Sept. 15. MPPA is a joint action agency consisting of 22 municipal-owned electric utilities across the state. Zeeland BPW is one of the largest such utilities.
“We’re trying to bring diversification and economies of scale and administrative efficiency to resources that are actually located in our member communities,” Bowland said.
What is driving the proposal is a forecast capacity shortfall of about 126 MW among MPPA’s member utilities. But Bowland says MPPA needs about 150 MW to meet that capacity gap.
“You don’t get megawatt-for-megawatt. The wholesale electric system operator does not give you exactly what you installed as capacity,” he said.
A state law requires MPPA to make a commitment - sooner rather than later — that there will enough generating capacity to meet that shortfall by the 2030-31 fiscal year, Bowland said.
“The goal is by the end of this year, I want to have extremely high confidence in what we’re doing,” Bowland said. “The intent is to go to our respective boards in the (first quarter) of ’27 and have authority to sign contracts (for the new generating facilities).”
While the MPPA proposal calls for 50 MW of power to be generated in Zeeland, the offtake for BPW from the project is expected to be 42 MW, Mulder said.
A number of factors are playing into the increased demand for generating capacity, including economic growth and investment into technology developments such as artificial intelligence. That’s occurring at the same time as some existing power supply resources are expected to come offline.
“We’re seeing load growth that is comparable to the ‘50s and ‘60s … except for this load growth is very different,” Bowland said. “That (past growth) was residential load growth – people were putting air conditioners in, refrigerators, TV sets – that continued on with manufacturing growth as well. But this is very, very chunky load growth. This is load growth where people are adding city-sized loads at one time. So it’s a very different type of planning.”
MPPA considered a number of different fuel sources beyond natural gas, including battery energy storage systems (BESS), diesel, and fuel cells. BESS was identified as a potential source to fill in any gaps if not enough generation through natural gas can be developed, Bowland said.
Before being encouraged to join in the MPPA project, BPW had projected it needed to increase its capacity within Zeeland by least 30 MW by 2030 as part of the utility’s Integrated Resource Plan.
“(The MPPA initiative) provides us with a larger project than we would likely build ourselves
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