November 2025
Clean Energy False Narratives Multiply
Renewables are not driving cost increases
In the past couple of months, there has been a surplus of editorial pieces, social media and blog posts, and politicians’ comments attributing the rising costs of energy to more renewable energy being added to the grid. To be blunt, this is frustrating hogwash. In Michigan, the largest driver of rate increases are investments in the distribution system (wires, poles, transformers) and other inflationary pressures. It is NOT because of renewable energy.
If you examine the sworn testimony of staff experts from our largest utilities in rate cases before the Michigan Public Service Commission, you will find that renewable energy is actually going to hold costs down over the next couple decades. Much like the false narratives about renewable energy that arose during the 2021 Texas winter storm or the grid failure in Spain this summer, the purveyors of these false narratives don’t care about the facts.
Large scale renewable energy, even without federal susbsidies, is still cost competitive with other forms of energy. Let's just tell it as it is.
Join Our BESS Webinar!
Are you seeing Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) pop up in areas around you or on the news? Want to learn more? Join MICEF and the Groundwork Center on December 4th at 12 PM ET for a FREE webinar to learn what BESS is, opportunities and challenges, and what BESS development looks like in Michigan.
This webinar will cover BESS basics facilitated by a panel of experts including a fire and safety expert, a planning commissioner, land use specialist from the University of Michigan, and a representative from Michigan's first utility scale BESS project.
Unable to attend? Register yourself and we will send a recording following the webinar.
MICEF Receives Exemplary Project Award
MICEF Executive Director Ed Rivet attended the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association’s (GLREA) annual meeting to receive the group’s Exemplary Project Award for 2025. MICEF received the award specifically for the Michigan Homegrown Power (MHP) campaign which was created by MICEF to bring additional support for siting of renewable energy projects, particularly in rural, more conservative areas.
“For years it has only been MICEF’s Land & Liberty Coalition® program working at the grassroots level on renewable energy siting,” said Rivet. “With MI Homegrown Power, we were able to recruit and train volunteers from a wider range of groups like GLREA. We have a much ‘deeper bench’ of local activists now. We’re gratified by both the success of MHP and being recognized with this award.”
Loss of Government Subsidies Expose True Costs
Consumer demand shrinks as prices rise
As hundreds of billions in federal subsidies dry up for certain clean energy technologies (wind, solar, heat pumps, EVs), the realities of clean energy costs are causing substantial disruptions in the clean energy market. The residential solar industry is bracing for the loss of the 30% tax credit at the end of this year. Bundling solar with a home battery, which for now still receives a tax credit, is a way to buffer the increased solar cost. But residential solar sales are expected to take a serious hit in 2026.
In the EV space, two companies that participated in MICEF’s EV Showcase at the State Capitol in 2022 have gone bankrupt in 2025 – Michigan-based commercial EV maker Bollinger Motors and Canadian battery recycling start up Li-Cycle. Ford is considering abandoning the F-150 Lightning EV pickup truck. The loss of the federal EV tax credit is causing dramatic retreat in EV development and sales.
Letting the market set prices for these clean energy technologies begs the question why should there be any subsidies for other energy technologies, like those that continue for oil and gas exploration, nuclear energy, geothermal, and energy storage systems? It's been our mantra since Day 1: Free market competition and innovation.
Seeking 8th Class of Pischea Fellows
MICEF’s Pischea Fellowship program is seeking its next class from among university upperclassman and graduate students. We typically select two or three fellows per class, based on the nature of their proposals and evolving energy trends. The goal is for their work to inform and advance energy policy consistent with our conservative principles.
Interested collegiate juniors, seniors, or graduate students are encouraged to review our program and apply online on our Pischea Fellowship webpage or contact MICEF Program Director Emily Pallarito Szczerowski at epallarito@micef.org.
Communities Block Battery Storage & Data Centers
Whether you consider it appropriate “local control” or self-interested “NIMBYism” (not in my back yard), bringing grid-scale battery storage and data centers to fruition has become the latest flashpoint in local zoning. Much like contentious battles over wind and solar farms, communities are intensely debating the pro’s and con’s of these “technological advances.” In the same week in November, two Michigan communities axed proposed data centers, while hundreds of residents showed up in another community to oppose a battery storage project.
Ironically or inevitably, the two technologies converged when a huge data center proposed in Washtenaw County could only receive adequate electricity supply from DTE Energy if it agreed to finance 1.4 gigawatts of battery storage. That’s the equivalent of a nuclear or gas generation plant; all for one data center. This data center and the needed battery storage will not be on the same site, but for this project the two are explicitly linked.
While the location, footprint, and impacts of these two technologies can be dramatically different, many local residents are quick to conflate all these technologies into one big “Not here!” But some communities are embracing these 21st century realities, reaping the economic development and tax revenue benefits.