New Renewables Ready Communities Program will help Michigan build out more wind, solar, clean energy projects faster to meet climate goals, make more American energy using American workers 

LANSING, MI - On July 22, 2024, Governor 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.  

“Michigan is committed to leading the future of clean energy so we can drive down utility costs for families, create good-paying jobs, and grow our advanced manufacturing economy,” said Governor Whitmer. “Thanks to our congressional delegation and the Biden-Harris administration’s investment in Michigan, we are ready to launch the Renewables Ready Communities Program to meet our renewable energy and MI Healthy Climate Plan goals. Together, we can install more solar panels and wind turbines using well-paid American workers. We can make clean, reliable energy right here in America while lowering costs and keeping our natural resources safe for future generations. Together, let’s keep leading the future of clean energy manufacturing and move towards our goal of 100% clean energy by 2040. Let’s get it done.” 

“This federal investment will accelerate adoption of renewable energy in every corner of our state, helping to keep our air and waterways safe while reducing energy costs for Michigan families,” said United States Senator Gary Peters. “I was proud to help enact the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which is bringing this critical funding to Michigan to bolster our clean energy economy and support local jobs.” 

Renewables Ready Communities Program

Today’s 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.

“Expanding access to renewable energy is critical to meeting the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, the state’s climate action plan, and reducing harmful air pollution, protecting our land, air, and water, and lowering energy costs for families, said EGLE Director Phil Roos. “Last year, with support from Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature, we launched the Renewables Ready Communities Award pilot program, a program to incentivize the local permitting of renewable energy projects like wind and solar. Today’s announcement will allow us to scale this program, offering additional supports and benefits to communities who want to be a part of the solution to the climate crisis.” 

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. 

Interested communities and stakeholders can reach out to [email protected] for more information. Check out EGLE’s website to learn more about the ongoing Renewables Ready Communities Award pilot. 

“Michigan continues to lead the nation in bringing clean energy and climate dollars from the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America Agenda,” said Chief Infrastructure Officer and Director of the Michigan Infrastructure Office Zachary Kolodin. “Quality infrastructure, including our energy infrastructure, is essential to the growth of our communities and prosperity of our residents. This new investment will make our energy grid more resilient and cleaner while creating good-paying jobs, spurring economic development, and lowering energy costs for Michiganders.”  

Today’s announcement will build on the state’s efforts to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy resources. To date, the state has set renewable, storage, and clean energy standards, supporting a market for clean energy growth; streamlined the process and taxation for permitting renewable energy projects; removed barriers to clean energy deployment; incentivized and provided technical assistance to host communities; provided resources to support the deployment of large-scale, community-serving, and rooftop solar; onshored the renewable supply chain and supported clean energy manufacturing; led by example by powering state government with 100% renewable energy and deploying projects on state-owned properties, and more. 

Michigan Leads on Clean Energy and Climate In 2022, the Governor released the MI Healthy Climate Plan as Michigan’s roadmap to meeting those targets and tasked the EGLE’s Office of Climate and Energy (OCE) with overseeing the implementation of the Plan.   

In November, the Governor signed historic clean energy legislation, making Michigan a national leader in the fight against climate change. The bills will lower household utility costs, create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, and protect Michigan’s precious air, water, and public health. 

With the passage of the IRA, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and CHIPS and Science Act, Michigan has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring transformative infrastructure, climate, and economic development to Michigan. According to Climate Power, through funding from the IRA, Michigan has introduced 45 new clean energy projects, ranging from solar and electric vehicles to hydrogen and batteries, the most across any state in the nation. The IRA has spurred more than $25 billion in investments in Michigan, creating or moving forward more than 21,000 clean energy jobs across the state. 

Michigan leads the Midwest in the number of clean energy workers, with nearly 124,000 clean energy workers. The 2023 Clean Jobs America Report stated that clean energy businesses in Michigan added more than 5,400 workers in 2022, growing almost twice the rate of the overall economy. 

For more information about the MI Healthy Climate Plan and the state’s work to implement the plan, please visit the MI Healthy Climate Plan webpage or sign up for Michigan Climate Action News and Updates emails.  About the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program (CPRG) The EPA’s CPRG program provides $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, this two-phase program provides $250 million for noncompetitive planning grants and approximately $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants. 

In 2023, the State of Michigan received a $3 million planning grant under the CPRG program to expand on the MI Healthy Climate Plan. EGLE, through the OCE, building from the MI Healthy Climate Plan, gathered input from stakeholders through in-person workshops, virtual input sessions, written comments, and project proposal submissions to develop a set of priority climate actions as required by the EPA. As a result of that process, the State submitted a competitive grant application to the EPA under the CPRG program to address challenges to siting renewable energy at scale, receiving full funding for the program as described above. 

The next steps under the CPRG program include the implementation of the RRC Program and, through the development of a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP), the further development of strategies to implement the MI Healthy Climate Plan and meet Governor Whitmer’s climate goals. EGLE’s OCE will host engagement and input discussions on MI Healthy Climate Plan implementation throughout the remainder of 2024 and 2025.