Muskegon Sun

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy wants to ensure that people in Michigan don't have to deal with the same blackouts and water issues that have wreaked havoc on Texas during a rare winter storm last week.

Texas' electricity failures stemmed from poor planning by the grid's operator, decisions against winterizing equipment and extreme cold weather that impacted several power sources, such as wind, solar, nuclear, coal and natural gas. The Mackinac Center recognized that these new details outlining what caused the electricity grid failures and rolling blackouts change the initial reasoning as to why Texas was left in the dark, but it doesn't change the long-term impact of the transition to renewable energy sources.  

It's just one of the reasons why the Mackinac Center has pushed lawmakers in Michigan to enact a law that would ensure any new electricity generation facility approved for construction would have power available for use on-demand. 

Jason Hayes | Mackinac Center for Public Policy

"Michigan residents should not have to depend on whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing in order to have reliable electricity," Jason Hayes, the Mackinac Center's director of environmental policy, said on its website. 

Hayes wrote a letter to Sen. Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway Township) and Rep. Joe Bellino (R-Monroe), who both chair energy committees in their respective chambers. Hayes encouraged the lawmakers to rescind the renewable energy standard that requires utility companies to have a minimum of 15% of their energy generated from renewable energy sources. 

He also reminded Lauwers and Bellino of the state's own energy failures during the 2019 Polar Vortex, where extreme cold temperatures not only strained the state's energy systems because of increased usage, but there was a huge failure in a main supply of natural gas and power generated by wind, and solar was almost nonexistent. Hayes said the state was lucky because there was enough coal- and nuclear-powered energy to allow people to heat their homes. 

"Unfortunately for its residents, Texas is much further along in its transition to an unreliable renewable-energy-focused system that relies on just-in-time natural gas backup," Hayes wrote in the letter.