Wolverine’s load is about 850 megawatts (MW), which the company meets with a combination of power purchase agreements, fractional baseload ownership and owned peaking turbines totaling 1,000 MW. Their portfolio is strong in renewables, which soon will comprise more than 30 percent of its generation resources. The company’s projected future energy requirements for the 280,000 rural customers its members serve, combined with some expiring supply agreements, revealed the need for an additional 400 MW of power, which must be able to respond quickly to changes in load and the variability of renewable generation.
“We spent three years thoroughly studying our options before firming up a plan for a 440 MW, two-unit natural gas peaking plant to be located west of Gaylord. The location we picked in Elmira Township is right on top of two natural gas lines and near the transmission needed to move the power onto the grid,” said Baker. “The technology gives us the option of converting to combined cycle down the road. This approach perfectly meets our key strategic issues of flexibility and a clean environmental footprint,” he said.