BY ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.com
TRAVERSE CITY — Much is up in the air for Traverse City Light & Power, the city-owned utility that generated months of contentious discussion when it floated plans to build a wood-burning power plant.
Officials now hope to figure out where to turn after some residents strongly opposed the idea, then launched a pair of ballot initiatives designed to strip much of the utility's autonomy.
Light & Power on Wednesday will discuss its strategic plan. Among the topics is what to do between now and November, when residents could vote to bring Light & Power back under city commission control and/or put any new power plant decisions in voters' hands.
"We need to have two visions: What do we do in the short term, and what do we do in the long term?" Board Chairman Mike Coco said.
Light & Power doesn't want to sit idle, though the ballot issues mean the utility likely won't make any monumental decisions until voters weigh in during the November general election.
"I'm not inclined to sit on my hands for the next five months, but I don't see us ... signing a construction contract or committing to a project," Coco said.
Light & Power recently put plans for at least one 10-megawatt biomass facility "on the back burner" amid vocal opposition. Some biomass opponents instead favored natural gas generation, and Light & Power must determine if that's the best idea.
"One of the things we have to talk about is, do we send the staff in that direction?" Coco said.
Light & Power gets almost all of its energy from downstate suppliers, and expiring contracts mean the utility will lose 50 percent of its baseload power supply at year's end. Short-term bridge contracts will extend that supply, but a series of plants are scheduled to go offline, leaving Light & Power to look elsewhere.
Officials repeatedly said they favor building some form of local, locally owned generation. Light & Power director Ed Rice said examining that possibility must continue to be a priority.
"We need to continue to look at what a long-term solution may be for our generation issues," he said.
Rumors swirl that Light & Power is buying time and plans to relaunch biomass plans. Coco said that wouldn't happen unless the public approves.
"If there was significant positive community support for biomass, the organization may consider doing it in the future," Coco said.
Coco said he'd like to see a large public turnout at Wednesday's meeting.
Light & Power board members at their regular Tuesday meeting will hear an air quality and health risk analysis tied to biomass. The study, completed by MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, was commissioned before Light & Power shelved biomass.
The Tuesday meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Governmental Center on Boardman Avenue.
