CMS Energy expects Michigan data center permitting progress after midterms

CMS Energy expects permitting for a contested Michigan data center that could draw up to 1 GW to make "more progress" after next week's midterms, CEO Garrick Rochow said on the third-quarter earnings call.

Consumers Energy, CMS's regulated utility, agreed earlier this year to serve the Microsoft data center, Utility Dive reported. Rochow did not name Microsoft on the call. He said the project is "continuing to progress through zoning in multiple locations" after an April permitting setback, and he attributed much of the opposition to political campaigns. "Some of the spin that you see leading up to the election does not equal reality," he said. Microsoft has signed renewable power deals in Japan, the UK, Spain and India, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported.

For investors financing this load, CFO Sri Maddipati said 1 GW of incremental large load could drive $2 billion to $5 billion of capital investment for the utility. Consumers has energized 450 MW of the 745 MW in signed large-load contracts in its five-year plan. Those contracts cover a medium-sized data center plus semiconductor, food processing and manufacturing customers. The Microsoft project is not among them. That capital figure is not specific to the Michigan project, but it is the scale of what zoning will decide.

Third-quarter earnings fell to $0.39 per share from $0.92 a year earlier. CMS attributed the decline to asset impairment and restructuring at NorthStar Clean Energy, the non-regulated clean energy developer and independent power producer it plans to split apart. CMS has agreed to or closed on sales covering more than 35% of NorthStar's assets, with the majority of the remainder in advanced negotiations with buyers, and expects to wrap the restructuring by the end of the year. CMS has said it will retain some NorthStar assets in Michigan, including two gas-fired peaker plants, a 770-MW waste- and gas-fired cogeneration plant and about 500 MW of solar.