On Oct. 27, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) held a hearing at Oakland Community College to provide information regarding the parameters of the Michigan Integrated Resource Planning Parameters (MIRPP) draft report, to receive public comments and to answer questions regarding the MIRPP review process.
MIRPP is a document that includes the rules, scenarios and sensitivities for Michigan’s electric utilities to utilize when developing energy plans that are long term. The Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) make it so utilities have to assess its consumers electricity needs for the following five, ten and twenty years in order to decide on the most well-advised mix of resources such as power plants and renewable energy to meet the reliability, affordability and needs overall.
Currently, MIRPP is being adapted in regard to new clean energy laws and updated requirements for utility companies, and MIRPP is currently developing the final updates.
A major concern covered in the meeting for the MIRPP for Oakland University students is the possibility of a data center being built on Oakland University’s campus. A data center stores IT infrastructure for services needed to process, store and distribute data.Oakland University released a “ Data Center Request For Proposals (RFP) and Pre Development Services Agreement” in June of this year. In this request Oakland University details the proposal for the data center including the proposed location.
The data center would be located at 253 Pioneer Drive, Rochester, on the current parking lot P-35, just north of Oakland’s Native American Heritage Site and across the street from Hillcrest Hall. Oakland University released a “request for proposals and pre development services agreement” in June of this year regarding the project.
The hearing was a chance for members of the public to express their opinions on the MIRPP directly to the commission. A number of Oakland University students attended the hearing, and several students, including Deneva Staples and Summer Lawrence, shared their comments regarding MIRPP during the hearing.
“My whole life is centered around the outdoors and putting these data centers especially on my campus will affect me and everyone around us. I am terrified to see what will happen from the fossil fuels being burned and greenhouse gases emissions that will come from those fossil fuels being burned and the usage of water that these data centers will be using,” Staples said.
“I am deeply concerned at the concept of having any number of these large data centers erected in my home state,” Lawrence said.
Allison Drzewiecki was in attendance at the hearing and expressed her concerns regarding the possible interruption to student life.
“The noise population would probably be the worst thing for student life, [a data center] right next to Hillcrest, that would be insane hearing that in your dormitory. I’m sure there will be problems with water by Hillcrest. It would ruin our beavers’ habitats by the Native American Heritage Site, there are just endless negatives to this,” Drzewiecki said.
The updates MPSC is currently doing to the MIRPP should conclude by the end of the year.
