Tom Hanrahan, general counsel with WPPI Energy, speaks to the Gladstone City Commission about the future of power supply.

GLADSTONE — The Gladstone City Commission heard a presentation Monday evening from Wisconsin Public Power Inc., the municipal power company of which the city is among 51 owning members, on routes to take moving forward as WPPI nears the end of its current five-year plan.

WPPI General Counsel Tom Hanrahan described the power sources drawn from as being similar to how an individual coordinates a 401(k).

“You’d have a bunch of different funds in your portfolio. They might have different durations — some of them long-term investments, some of your money you might leave subject to the fluctuations of the market. That’s how we think about our power supply portfolios,” Hanrahan said. “We don’t have any huge commitment in any one resource, resource type or over a particular amount of time. So that helps us have a very balanced portfolio, and it allows us to keep our costs very stable.”

Contributing to the WPPI portfolio are resources in gas, coal, wind, nuclear, hydroelectricity, biogas and solar. Some are facilities owned by WPPI and there are some from which power is purchased as generated and needed.

The variety allows resources such as coal, gas and nuclear to come online when needed when wind and sun production is down.

WPPI has kept costs pretty steady for the past 13 years; adjusting for inflation, prices to members have actually gone down.

Though WPPI is based in Wisconsin, they are prepared to meet Michigan’s renewable energy standard. Michigan passed legislation requiring that at least half of a power provider’s portfolio must be renewable by 2030 and that at least 60% be renewable by 2035.

Other Michigan communities that use WPPI are Baraga, Crystal Falls, Alger-Delta Cooperative Electric Association, L’Anse, Negaunee and Norway.

As some of WPPI’s rights to certain resources expire in coming years, requests for proposals for new endeavors have been sent.

“We get offers back to do projects or purchase power. We’ve got some really interesting proposals. I’d say they’ve been a mix of renewables, some natural gas, some battery storage, and we’re looking at all of that,” Hanrahan said.

Battery storage would be new to WPPI, so they’re looking at entering that field gradually without taking much risk up front. “The developer will operate the resources, but WPPI will get the rights to call on the capacity if we ever need it,” said Hanrahan, calling battery storage a cost-effective resource.

Two of WPPI’s coal plants are looking at converting to becoming gas facilities because coal isn’t always economical.

Another big piece of the picture WPPI considers is its relationship with the transmission grid. It is expensive to harness the energy generated at various locations and delivering it to members and customers, but by owning transmission, prices can be reduced. WPPI is a co-owner of the American Transmission System and has some other investments in the field, which Hanrahan says offsets costs.

WPPI must also think about the data centers that are in the planning stages.

“The major data center projects that have been announced in Wisconsin, if they come to fruition, they will be many thousands of megawatts. They’re multiple times the size of WPPI. So when we’re out and we’re talking to our partners and talking to others in the industry about new resources, we have to contend with that,” Hanrahan said. “If it’s a customer who goes away, that could be 10% of our total system, and who would pay those costs? So we’re really thinking carefully about how we manage those risks and make sure that the other customers, not the data center, but all the other customers benefit from a data center coming.”

He said the company is also looking into the possibility of procuring new sites and building their own facility if power demand increases so much as to warrant it.

Other commission business included:

– After Dan Block from Dynamic Design Group presented the final preliminary plat for developing property at Grand View Estates, the commission unanimously approved the plans.

– The commission approved a resolution to establish a Plant Rehabilitation District at 103 N. 12th St., which AMI plans to purchase from DelFab, refurbish the site and open Gladstone Braze and Power Coat while DelFab remains a tenant.

– City Manager Eric Buckman and Public Safety Ron Robinson were authorized to sign an agreement for mutual aid for fire control with the Department of Natural Resources.

– Of three bids received to replace electric department flooring, the lowest proposal — from Carpet & Drapery Shoppe for $5,326 — was accepted.

– Having heard that substation transformers will take 55 to 82 weeks to come in, the commission approved putting out a request for bids on North Bluff substation replacements.

– To fund the replacement of a new water intake and transmission main, the city water department intends to issue revenue bonds not to exceed $10 million and sell them to the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program. Payment will be made over installments for up to 40 years.

– Bills were approved for $26,490 to Electric Power Systems International; $7,947 to Power System Engineering; and $7,479 to Berger & King Inc.