Michigan, US publishes geothermal and clean energy roadmap

Michigan, U.S. (source: Eli Duke / flickr, Creative Commons)

The state of Michigan thru the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) have published a Clean Energy Assets Roadmap Program (CEARP) that provide strategic guidance for clean energy technology development. The roadmap is currently distributed across three different types of renewable energies – geothermal, solar, and wind.

The Clean Energy Assets Roadmap is accessible via the EGLE website. The Geothermal Roadmap can be accessed here.

The Geothermal and Renewable Energy Asset Roadmaps were developed by the Centrepolis Accelerator of the Lawrence Technological University with a grant from the EGLE.

The Geothermal Roadmap highlights the opportunities, as well as the impediments and gaps in adopting geothermal heating for the commercial and industrial sectors in Michigan. The aim of the study was to provide information that will help the EGLE address policy and workforce development and gaps that impede the adoption of geothermal resources in the state.

The report states that there are currently around 40,000 geothermal installations in Michigan. There remains a vast range o of opportunities for geothermal including office buildings, hotels, medical centers, and heat-intensive industries such dairy and food processing, among others.

However, there are barriers that are impeding a wide adoption of geothermal energy. According to the study, the most significant of these is the lack of financial incentives and policies promoting geothermal, the lack of customer education, and the lack of effective market promotion.

The report stated that a major threat of this low rate of adoption is that Michigan may lose its geothermal supplier ecosystem, especially with geothermal developments in the nearby states of New York and Washington, and in Canada. According to the study, Michigan’s commercial and industrial geothermal companies are doing more and more work outside of Michigan.

Three recommendations are proposed by the report to boost geothermal adoption in Michigan – make state policies more geo-friendly, reduce the financial hurdles of geothermal development, and increase and improve education and marketing about geothermal energy.

As a follow up to the roadmap, the state of Michigan will soon launch a Clean Energy Assets Database. This will provide information on businesses that provide technical renewable and clean energy resources. It will be a free resource for elected officials, government employees, business owners, planners, developers, Michigan residents, industry, and commercial sectors.

Source: Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy – Michigan