Energy New Network covered Michigan's MI Power Grid initiative, a significant electric grid modernization effort to prepare for more distributed energy resources and other priorities for the state, quoting AEE's Ryan Katofsky. Read excerpts below and the entire Energy News Network piece here.

A new Michigan energy initiative aims to translate two years of planning into action that can transform the state’s electricity system... The MI Power Grid initiative, jointly launched by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Public Service Commission, was met with broad support from clean energy and consumer advocates as well as the state’s largest energy company...

The overarching goal is to better prepare Michigan for the shift from large centralized coal plants to distributed renewable resources like wind and solar and emerging technology like battery storage. Officials cite declining renewable energy costs as a key driver of the initiative...

MI Power Grid also puts Michigan in line with utility regulators across the country taking similar steps. Talberg joined other utility regulators in Columbus, Ohio, this month at a meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and National Association of State Energy Officials. U.S. Department of Energy funding is being directed to coordinate state planning around distributed generation and transmission...

Ryan Katofsky, managing director for the Washington-based Advanced Energy Economy, said in a statement that MI Power Grid is “focusing on all the right things” and has “created a scope that’s both ambitious and achievable...”

Read the entire Energy News Network piece here.