Shocking news… Michigan has two peninsulas! Michigan residents take pride in our unique geography and the hokey way we point on our right hand to our hometown’s location. We take pride in our Mackinac Bridge and the beauty in its architecture and function over that five mile deep blue Straits.
Have you ever thought about the electrical implications of two peninsulas? Sadly, Michigan’s story is not so grand. We have a very strong, looped high-voltage network in the Lower Peninsula, and a spider web of older, lower voltage lines in the Upper Peninsula. Worse still, is that the two grids are not connected electrically in a meaningful way. The Upper Peninsula acts as a sort of radial extension cord from Wisconsin.
I testified this week in front of the Michigan House Energy Policy Committee trying to raise awareness of this Michigan weakness. Senator Tom Casperson and Representative Triston Cole have introduced Bills that might provide a process and platform for building a new transmission connection between the two peninsulas.
Why should we care in Lower Michigan? First, regulatory complications. Michigan cannot drive policy in a 21st Century environment with two separate networks, especially one as weak as we have in the UP. Second, reliability in the Upper Peninsula suffers due to the weak grid. Third, a weak grid causes inefficiency in the entire region. The best generators cannot always get to the customers and the “work arounds” inside Midwest control rooms cause Michigan electric rates to be higher than they would be otherwise. This hidden tax, grid inefficiency, and poor reliability in our state, bugs the heck out of me.
Stay tuned. You can expect opponents to rail about the “high cost” of building the grid to a modern standard. You can also expect the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association, led by Craig Borr, to champion the cause and fight beside Wolverine.
Best blog yet and such an important piece of information that the majority of people are not aware of.
his is a very important issue. In order for people to get the most reliable, as well as affordable, power, the grid needs to not only be upgraded to the most current standard, but also maintained to that standard and continually upgraded to ultimately exceed that standard. It will cost money, but connecting the grids and upgrading them will ultimately provide EVRYONE with more reliable AND more affordable electricity. Great blog post, Eric. This is truly very important topic needs to be discussed more.
I think we are only worth what we put into ourselves when it comes to infrastructure in general. The state and country could invest vast amounts of money in infrastructure before it could catch up to standard. It is also a cost that increases rapidly every year the improvements are not in place. Starting a plan now that can apply these improvements in a timely, cost efficient, and reliable fashion is the only option that makes sense.