Bill
HB 5120
Creates an MPSC statewide certification for large wind, solar, and storage projects, preempts conflicting local zoning, and provides a uniform siting path with local input.
Status & timing
- Enacted as Public Act 233 of 2023; approved by Governor 11/28/2023.
- Effective date: November 29, 2024 (one year after enactment).
- Tie-bar: SB 0588 (2023) and HB 5121 (2023).
Purpose
- Establishes a statewide Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) certification process for large-scale wind, solar, and energy storage projects and, upon issuance of an MPSC certificate, preempts local zoning or other local rules that prohibit or more restrictively regulate those projects. The purpose is to create a uniform, centralized siting path for utility-scale renewable and storage projects while allowing local participation and certain local permitting when local ordinances meet the statute’s standards.
Facilities covered (nameplate / discharge thresholds)
- Wind energy facilities: 100 megawatts (MW) or more.
- Solar energy facilities: 50 MW or more.
- Energy storage facilities: 50 MW or more and an energy discharge capability of 200 megawatt‑hours (MWh) or more.
- Facilities may span multiple parcels, including noncontiguous parcels, if they share a single point of interconnection.
Who may apply / who can trigger certification
- Applicants: electric providers (investor‑owned, municipal, cooperative, licensed alternative suppliers) or independent power producers (IPPs).
- An affected local unit of government may request the MPSC require an applicant to obtain certification.
Key procedural and substantive provisions
- Application requirements: comprehensive site plan; demonstration of consultation with affected local units and specified state departments; environmental impact and mitigation plans; public health and safety considerations; labor and workforce information; financial assurances; setback information and other technical details.
- Public engagement: applicant must hold public meetings in each affected local unit and provide advance written notice to local officials and published notice to the public.
- Contested‑case process: applications undergo an MPSC contested‑case proceeding (Administrative Procedures Act procedures). The MPSC must issue a certificate or deny the application within one year of filing.
- Approval criteria: MPSC may grant a certificate only if statutory environmental, safety, labor, setback, and other requirements are satisfied.
- Preemption: an issued certificate preempts any local policy/practice/ordinance that prohibits or more restrictively regulates construction, operation, replacement, or maintenance of the certified facility. Zoning ordinances adopted after an application is filed may not be construed to limit the facility.
- Local permitting alternative: if a local unit has a “compatible renewable energy ordinance” (i.e., no more restrictive than the statute’s standards), the applicant must file with that local unit instead of the MPSC; the statute prescribes the local review process in that case.
Payments, agreements, and records
- Local participation grant: one‑time grants to affected local units to cover costs tied to participation in contested cases (amounts specified in statute).
- Host community payment: $2,000 per megawatt (nameplate capacity) payable by the applicant upon operation; funds must be used for local police, fire, or public safety.
- If a host community agreement cannot be reached, the applicant must enter a community benefits agreement.
- Application materials are public records.
Local zoning / land‑use transition rules (HB 5121)
- HB 5121 amends the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act to make local zoning subject to Part 8 and protects certain renewable projects that already have special land use approval (approvals granted on or after Jan 1, 2021 may be treated as prior nonconforming uses under specified conditions).
Fiscal and administrative impacts
- MPSC workload: increased review and contested‑case processing; MPSC may set application fees and recover consultant review costs from applicants. Some additional staff or appropriations may be required depending on application volume (analysts estimated a potential additional FTE at an average cost of ~$137,500).
- Local fiscal effect: potentially positive/indeterminate — host payments and participation grants provide direct funds to affected local units; impacts depend on projects sited.
Who is affected
- Electric providers and IPPs proposing qualifying facilities; counties, townships, cities, and villages hosting proposed projects; adjacent landowners (participating vs. nonparticipating); state agencies that consult on permits; MPSC and its staff; local public safety services (recipients of host payments).
Practical effect
- Creates a uniform, MPSC‑led certification path for siting large renewable and storage projects in Michigan, enabling state‑level resolution of conflicts with local ordinances unless local ordinances meet the statute’s compatibility standards.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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