Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
CERTIFICATION AND SITING OF ENERGY FACILITIES
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
WITH CAPACITY OF 50 TO 100 MEGAWATTS
Analysis available at
House Bill 5122 as reported http://www.legislature.mi.gov
Sponsor: Rep. Phil Skaggs
House Bill 5123 as reported
Sponsor: Rep. Ranjeev Puri
Committee: Energy, Communications, and Technology
Complete to 10-30-23
SUMMARY:
House Bill 5122 would add a Part 8 to the Clean and Renewable Energy and Energy Waste
Reduction Act to create a certification process, through the Michigan Public Service
Commission (MPSC), of solar energy facilities and energy storage facilities with a capacity of
at least 50 but less than 100 megawatts. 1 The process would preempt local zoning or regulation
of such facilities. House Bill 5123 would amend the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act to provide
that zoning ordinances are subject to Part 8 of the Clean and Renewable Energy and Energy
Waste Reduction Act.
House Bill 5122 would add Part 8 (Solar and Storage Certification) to the Clean and
Renewable Energy and Energy Waste Reduction Act. The proposed new part would apply to
solar energy facilities with a nameplate capacity of at least 50 megawatts but less than 100
megawatts and to energy storage facilities with a nameplate capacity of at least 50 megawatts
but less than 100 megawatts and an energy discharge capability of 200 megawatt hours or
more. These would be referred to collectively as energy facilities in the bill. Energy facilities
could be located on more than one parcel of property, including noncontiguous parcels.
Solar energy facility would mean a system that captures and converts solar energy into
electricity for sale or for use in any location other than the facility property and would
include at least all of the following:
• Photovoltaic solar panels.
• Solar inverters.
• Solar monitoring stations.
• Energy storage facilities.
• Access roads.
• Distribution, collection, and feeder lines.
• Wires and cables.
• Conduit.
• Footings.
• Foundations.
1
House Bills 5122 and 5120 have similar provisions, and both bills would add a Part 8 to the act, but HB 5122 would
apply to the facilities with the capacities described above and HB 5120 would apply to wind energy facilities, solar
energy facilities, and energy storage facilities with a capacity of 100 megawatts or more.
House Fiscal Agency Page 1 of 10
 • Towers.
• Poles.
• Crossarms.
• Guy lines and anchors.
• Substations.
• Interconnection or switching facilities.
• Circuit breakers and transformers.
• Overhead and underground control.
• Communications and radio relay systems and telecommunications equipment.
• Utility lines and installations.
• Generation tie lines.
• Substations.
• Accessory equipment and structures.
Nameplate capacity would mean the designed full-load sustained generating output of
an energy facility, determined by reference to the sustained output of an energy facility
even if its components are located on different parcels.
Energy storage facility would mean a system that absorbs, stores, and discharges
electricity.
Certificates
The bill would allow an electric provider or independent power producer to obtain a certificate
from the MPSC, as described below, before beginning construction of an energy facility.
Electric provider means any of the following:
• Any person or entity that is regulated by the MPSC for the purpose of selling
electricity to retail customers in Michigan.
• A municipally owned electric utility in Michigan.
• A cooperative electric utility in Michigan.
• An alternative electric supplier licensed under section 10a of 1939 PA 3. 2
Independent power producer would mean a person that is not an electric utility but
that owns or operates facilities to generate electric power for sale to electric providers,
the state, or local units of government.
Person would mean any of the following:
• An individual.
• A governmental entity authorized by the state.
• A political subdivision of the state.
• A business.
• A proprietorship.
• A firm.
• A partnership.
• A limited partnership.
2
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-460-10a
House Fiscal Agency HBs 5122 and 5123 as reported Page 2 of 10
 • A limited liability partnership.
• A co-partnership.
• A joint venture.
• A syndicate.
• A business trust.
• A labor organization.
• A company.
• A corporation.
• An association.
• A subchapter S corporation.
• A limited liability company.
• A committee.
• A receiver.
• An estate.
• A trust.
• Any other legal entity or combination or group of persons acting jointly as a
unit.
Construction would mean any substantial action taken that constitutes the placement,
erection, expansion, or repowering of an energy facility.
Repowering would mean replacement of all or substantially all of an energy facility
for the purpose of extending its life. It would not include repairs related to ongoing
operations that do not increase the capacity or energy output of the facility.
Public meeting
An electric provider or independent power producer proposing to obtain a certificate would
have to hold a public meeting in each affected local unit (a county, township, city, or village
where all or part of a proposed energy facility will be located). However, a public meeting held
in a township would be considered to be held in each village located in that township.
At least 60 days before the meeting, the electric provider or independent power producer would
have to offer in writing to meet with the chief elected official of each affected local unit, or
their designee, to discuss the site plan for the facility. (Site plans are described below.)
At least 30 days before the meeting, the electric provider or independent power producer would
have to notify the clerk of the affected local unit where the meeting will be held of the time,
date, location, and purpose of the meeting and provide either a copy of the site plan or an
internet address where the site plan is available.
At least 14 days before the meeting, the electric provider or independent power producer would
have to publish notice of the meeting in a newspaper of general circulation in the affected local
unit or in a digital alternative that is comparable to such a newspaper. The notice would have
to include either a copy of the site plan or an internet address where the site plan is available.
The MPSC would have to further prescribe the format and content of the notice.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 5122 and 5123 as reported Page 3 of 10
 Site plan
In addition to meeting application filing requirements established by the MPSC by rule or
order, a site plan would have to include all of the following:
• The location of the energy facility.
• A description of the energy facility.
• A description of the anticipated effects of the energy facility on the environment,
natural resources, and solid waste disposal capacity. This description could include
records of consultation with relevant state, tribal, and federal agencies.
• Additional information that directly relates to the site plan as required by the MPSC by
rule or order.
Whenever an electric provider or independent power producer submits a site plan to the MPSC
as required by the bill, it also would have to submit a copy of the site plan to the clerk of each
affected local unit, for informational purposes.
Application for a certificate
An application for a certificate would have to contain all of the following:
• The applicant’s name, address, and phone number.
• The planned construction start date.
• The construction’s expected duration.
• A description of the energy facility, including a site plan.
• A description of the facility’s expected use.
• A description of the facility’s expected public benefits.
• A description of the facility’s expected direct impacts on the environment and natural
resources.
• A description of how the applicant intends to address and mitigate the above impacts.
• Information on the facility’s effects on public health and safety.
• A description of the portion of the community where the energy facility will be located.
• A statement (and evidence) that the facility will not start commercial operation until it
is in compliance with applicable environmental laws.
• A summary of the community outreach and education efforts undertaken by the electric
provider or independent power producer. This would include a description of the public
meetings and meetings with elected officials described above.
• Evidence of consultation (before submission of the application) with the Department
of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and other relevant state and federal agencies,
including the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture and
Rural Development.
• Information about the interconnection queue for the applicable regional transmission
organization.
• If the proposed site is undeveloped, a description of feasible alternative developed
locations, including vacant industrial property and brownfields, and an explanation of
why they were not chosen.
• If the facility is reasonably expected to have an impact on any of the following, a plan
to minimize and mitigate that impact:
o Television signals.
o Microwave signals.
o Agricultural global position systems.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 5122 and 5123 as reported Page 4 of 10
 o Military defense radar. Information in the plan concerning military defense
radar would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) and could not be disclosed by the MPSC or the electric provider or
independent power producer except under court order.
o Radio reception.
o Weather and Doppler radio.
• If the facility is expected to have an impact on drainage systems, a plan to minimize,
mitigate, and repair that impact at the expense of the provider or producer.
• If the facility is or includes an energy storage facility, an emergency response plan.
• A decommissioning plan that includes financial assurance in the form of a bond, a
parent company guarantee, or an irrevocable letter of credit, in an amount at least equal
to the estimated cost of decommissioning the facility, after deducting salvage value, as
calculated by a third party with expertise in decommissioning hired by the applicant.
The financial assurance could be posted in increments as follows:
o At least 25% by the start of full commercial operation.
o At least 50% by the start of the fifth year of commercial operation.
o 100% by the start of the tenth year of commercial operation.
• Other information reasonably required by the MPSC.
The MPSC would have to determine an application’s completeness within 60 days after
receiving it. For an incomplete application, the MPSC would have to advise the applicant in
writing of the information needed to make it complete. An application would be considered to
be complete if the MPSC fails to timely notify the applicant that it is incomplete.
By 30 days after the MPSC determines that an application is complete, the applicant would
have to publish, and send to the clerk of each affected local unit, notice of an opportunity to
comment on the application. Publication would have to be in a newspaper of general circulation
in each affected local unit or a comparable digital alternative. The notice would have to be
written in plain, nontechnical, and easily understood terms, with a specified style of title.
The MPSC would have to further prescribe the format and contents of the notice.
The MPSC would have to conduct a proceeding on the application as a contested case under
the Administrative Procedures Act. An affected local unit, participating property owner, or
nonparticipating property owner could intervene by right.
The MPSC could assess reasonable fees to cover its administrative costs in processing an
application, including costs of consultants to assist the MPSC in evaluating issues raised by the
application.
The MPSC would have to grant the application and issue a certificate or deny the application
not later than one year after a complete application is filed.
Evaluating an application
In evaluating an application, the MPSC would have to consider the impact of the proposed
facility on local land use, including the percentage of land in the local unit dedicated to energy
generation. The MPSC could condition approval on additional reasonable action related to the
facility impacts, including the following:
• Establishing vegetative ground cover and maintaining it for the life of the facility.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 5122 and 5123 as reported Page 5 of 10
 • Meeting or exceeding specified pollinator standards for the life of the facility.
• Providing for community improvements in the affected local unit.
The MPSC would have to grant the application and issue a certificate if it determines all of the
following:
• The public benefits of the proposed energy facility justify its construction.
• The applicant has considered and addressed impacts to the environment and natural
resources, including sensitive habitats and waterways, wildlife corridors, wetlands and
floodplains, parks, historic and cultural sites, and threatened or endangered species.
• The applicant has met the community-based organization conditions described below.
• The applicant has certified that workers employed for construction of the facility will
be paid at least the prevailing wage in the affected local unit.
• The applicant has certified that it will enter into and adhere to an agreement with one
or more labor organizations in regard to the construction of the energy facility.
• The proposed energy facility does not present an unreasonable threat to public health
or safety.
An energy facility would be considered to meet the health and safety requirement described
above if it will meet the following applicable standards:
• For a solar energy facility, all of the following:
o The following setback requirements:
 With regard to occupied community buildings and dwellings on
nonparticipating properties, 150 feet from the nearest point on the
outside wall of the structure.
 With regard to a public road right-of-way, 50 feet measured from the
nearest edge of the right-of-way.
 With regard to nonparticipating properties, 50 feet measured from the
nearest shared property line.
o The solar energy facility is completely enclosed with fencing in compliance
with the National Electric Code as in effect when the bill is enacted or any
applicable successor standard approved by the MPSC.
o Solar panel components do not exceed a maximum height of 25 feet ab