Constrained by patchwork and complicated siting and permitting processes across hundreds of townships, Michigan’s energy supplies were not keeping up with growing demand. Advanced Energy United and a coalition of allies successfully championed, through direct engagement and by activating the public through our c4 organization, Counterspark, a legislative solution that was signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2023. 

Even though the “Michigan model” to siting and permitting reform is widely considered an elegant solution and a model for other states to follow–ensuring citizen input, community benefit agreements, and transparency in the process, while providing more regulatory certainty for developers–the law has been under legislative, and legal attack.

Every step of the way, United has stepped up to defend the reforms. 

The first attack came via an attempted voter referendum. United understood that the solution to this challenge was public education. The newly passed reforms would create economic opportunities for both landowners and energy users, while helping energy supplies keep up with demand. United and its allies worked directly with local landowners to engage the news media to help tell this story, and also activated an extensive list of clean energy-supportive citizens, and deployed a paid media campaign promoting the benefits of the law to communities and farmers. Ultimately, the 2024 effort failed to even get enough signatures to put on the ballot.

Midterm elections provided some legislators an opportunity to try to repeal the law. In the House of Representatives, some legislators proposed repealing a portion of the law that allows the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC)’s certification process to pre-empt local zoning and regulations under certain circumstances. The bill passed the House, but was decidedly dead-on-arrival at the Senate.

Next came a legal attack. Over seventy townships collectively filed a lawsuit in the court of common pleas alleging that the MPSC had not followed the right process for implementation. MPSC is now in court defending their implementation, and we, alongside our partner organization the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (MI EIBC), and several other industry groups, filed an amicus brief to support MPSC’s position. The Court subsequently upheld the law in its ruling in May, affirming the MPSC’s authority to implement the law and landowner rights. Townships appealed parts of the ruling in the Michigan Supreme Court.

As of July 2026, United, alongside other trade associations, is defending Michigan’s siting law before the Michigan Supreme Court, arguing that the law’s rules for local ordinances are clear and workable and that zoning decisions should rest with local governments actually responsible for zoning as opposed to a wider set of jurisdictions. A court decision is expected in October.

All the while, United was engaging in the MPSC’s stakeholder process to inform and help shape implementation of the law. MPSC took a huge step forward in meeting the state’s clean energy and storage goals with their release of application filing instructions and procedures that specifically implements Public Act (PA) 233 for communities and renewable energy developers. Along with our members, United will continue to work to shape these regulations so they deliver the commonsense process that was promised, including improving siting and permitting for large utility-scale wind, solar, and energy storage projects.