William McCormick, CEO of CMS Energy called for the Michiganlegislature to pave the way for added electric generation and fullcompetition in the state. He presented his comments to a group ofpeople at the Midland Cogeneration Venture (MCV) 10th yearanniversary ceremonies yesterday.

“As was the case 10 years ago, the demand for power is growing,but the supply of power is not growing adequately to meet economicgrowth,” said McCormick. “In Michigan, other companies are preparedto follow in the MCV’s footsteps with new independent power plants.Together with the MCV, these new plants will help create not justpower, but a substantial independent power industry that will bringbadly needed electric supplies to Michigan, and open up the marketto competition.”

He said CMS Energy and its MCV partners are considering thepossibility of increasing electric generating capacity at the MCVand urged Michigan’s legislature to pass electric restructuringlegislation, “to foster competition and facilitate the building ofnew power plants in Michigan.” He did not say how large theincrease in capacity would be.

MCV uses twelve gas-fired turbines and two steam turbines toproduce 1,500 MW of electricity for industrial use. Major customersinclude Consumers Energy and The Dow Chemical Co. for electricity,and Dow and Dow Corning Corp. for steam.

Plans for restructuring Michigan’s electric industry are alreadyunderway (see Daily GPI, Aug. 19,1999). Consumers Energy, a CMS subsidiary, and Detroit Edison havevoluntarily submitted their plans to completely open their serviceterritories. Those two utilities collectively serve about 90% ofMichigan’s electric markets. Both utilities expect all retailcustomers to be offered choice by January 2002.

In other CMS news, CMS Trunkline Gas Co. announced that it closedon the acquisition of Sea Robin Pipeline Co. from El Paso EnergyCorp. Sea Robin is a 1 Bcf/d gas and condensate pipeline in the Gulfof Mexico offshore Louisiana west of Trunkline’s existing Terrebonnesystem. CMS purchased the facility last January for $72 million (seeDaily GPI, Jan. 7). Sea Robin expandsthe CMS Trunkline system and reaches across one of the most prolificproduction areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The system connects to aproducer-owned processing plant and liquids separation facility andaccesses the Henry Hub.

©Copyright 2000 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.