Original subtitles

[narrator] On "Tomorrow's World Today," we explore the cutting-edge

advances that are shaping four different worlds.

The world of inspiration, where the wonders of

the natural world amaze and inspire us.

The world of creation, where ideas come to life from

traditional arts.

The world of innovation, where ideas and inventions

move us all forward.

The world of production, where innovations

are mass-produced to improve our lives.

From Inventionland World Headquarters, here's your host,

George Davison.

Electricity as we know it began with a bold experiment

involving a kite, a key, and a storm.

When Ben Franklin first captured energy from

lightning, he revolutionized our understanding of power.

This experiment ultimately led to the invention of

the lightning rod, protecting homes and barns.

It also sparked the world's first ideas about harnessing

energy to improve life. So let's fast-forward to today.

Electricity powers nearly everything that we do.

The light bulb, electric cars, and even our smartphones all

trace their origins back to that spark of discovery.

Now over time, we created entire industries

dedicated to generating and then delivering power.

Our world relies on electricity more than ever, and it's driving

continuous innovation to meet increasing demand.

Yet progress also brings new challenges.

So how do we produce enough electricity to sustain

our growing population?

And how do we innovate to make it reliable,

renewable, and affordable for everyone?

These are big questions that shape the future of energy

and the direction of our technology.

So I'm gonna send Greg to the world of innovation in

Grand Rapids, Michigan, to explore how leaders in this

field are pioneering new approaches to energy.

[Greg] Whether powering homes, businesses,

or entire communities, energy companies are taking

a forward-thinking approach to innovation.

I'm in Grand Rapids, Michigan at Consumers Energy to

meet with Lauren Snyder, Vice President of

Customer Experience, to discuss their cutting-edge projects

and their vision for energy in tomorrow's world.

-Hey, Greg. -Hi, Lauren.

-Welcome to Consumers Energy. -Thank you very much.

I'm excited to be here and excited to learn more about

what it is that you do.

-Yeah. Tell me a little bit about your mission.

OK, so I have to start with explaining where we are.

So us Michiganders, we like to use the hand as our map.

And we at Consumers Energy get the privilege to serve

6.8 million customers with electricity and natural gas.

[Greg] Now, as we look towards the future

and the electrification of things,

a lot of folks are worried about the grid,

and some of the problems that we've seen that have occurred with that.

What are you doing towards that end to make sure that all of

this energy remains reliable?

So we are deeply committed to providing reliable energy

that's affordable and it's clean.

And myself and my 8,000 coworkers at Consumers Energy,

we all live and work in Michigan.

We're deeply committed to this state and the success of this state.

And the work that we do at Consumers Energy is to make

sure that we are leaving this state better than we found it.

We have a big ambition to be net-zero by 2040.

That's excellent.

I would love to learn more about that.

All right, let's go.

So Lauren, as we talk about a net-zero future,

none of this is anything new for Consumers Energy. -No.

You've actually been involved in alternate sources of

generating energy since the '70s.

-Yeah. -But now there's a real shift happening.

Tell me more about that.

So innovation is a key part of our plan

as well as reliability.

And so the way that we are gonna deliver a reliable energy

to our Michiganders, our customers, is through what

we call our clean energy plan.

And this is a plan that is comprised of a diverse mix of

generation supply. We start with our gas plants.

As we start to make this transition, they are

the base load.

You layer on renewables like solar and wind,

and then you compliment those renewables with

battery storage.

The other aspect of our plan is an opportunity for us to engage

with our Michiganders in ways that we haven't before.

We are working with them to use less energy and to shift usage.

You know, we have the greatest demand on our electric system

during the summer when our customers crank up

their air conditioning units.

And so having them shift their usage is

also a key aspect of this plan.

-OK, well, that's asking Michiganders to engage... -Yeah.

...in a new way.

-Yes. -So now they've got to buy into this as well.

What's really in it for them in the end?

Well, to start with, this is a more affordable plan.

So between now and 2040, we will reduce operational

costs by $600 million.

The second is a more reliable energy mix.

And the third is a cleaner environment.

I think about cleaner air.

I think about the state of Michigan and the beautiful

natural resources that we have with our Great Lakes.

We are going to leave Michigan better than we found it.

Well, I would really like to learn more about

the Net-Zero 2040 plan. -Great, follow me.

Becoming net zero by 2040 is a huge undertaking.

What would drive a decision like that?

It's a huge undertaking.

You know, at Consumers Energy, we make decisions through

the lens of what's best for people,

for our planet, and prosperity,

particularly for the state of Michigan.

And so as we watch the economics of renewables get

better, we knew that that would translate into more affordable

bills for our customers. So that's a win.

We know, too, that more renewable resources equates to

cleaner air. That's a win for us.

And then when we think about prosperity, a lot of companies

have made sustainability goals.

And in the spirit of retaining businesses and attracting

new businesses, we wanna be able to deliver

renewable solutions for them.

OK, well, the economics of this are important.

So as you look at completing your transition out of coal in

2025, you look at those areas that -- where a coal plant was

probably a really big part of their local economy.

What are you doing to make sure that you don't leave

those communities behind?

Well, we aren't leaving them behind.

We are just changing the way that we show up in

those communities.

Again, these are our neighbors, these are our families,

these are our friends.

And so we have made a concerted effort to partner with those

communities to find out what would benefit them.

What do they want to see here as we decommission

these coal plants?

You know, one great example is we are revitalizing one of

our plants, the land on that property, we're turning that

into a solar array.

So that's just one example of how we are partnering to make

sure that we are leaving those communities most impacted

better than we found them. -Well, that sounds great.

And I'm actually heading out to

visit one of your solar gardens right now.

[Greg] I'm at a Consumers Energy solar garden in Grand Rapids,

Michigan, to discuss the future of solar panels with

Jessica Woycehoski, Executive Director of

Renewable Operations.

So Jessica, when people think of Michigan, they might not be

thinking of like, big sunshiny days.

Is solar energy still really viable

in an environment like this?

Absolutely, we're here in Michigan on

an October blue-sky day. It is powering up the panels.

You've seen the frost that has melted up and it's getting

ready to provide power to our friends and our neighbors.

[Greg] Excellent, now how many of these arrays does

Consumers Energy have?

[Jessica] We have several arrays across the state that

we have built, and we continue to build more

as we work towards our clean energy plan.

And we expect to have roughly maybe 10 or 20 projects here

over the many, many years that we've got.

OK, well, let's talk about some of the new technology

that's going into those new arrays.

Tell me about that.

What you see here is what's called a monofilm.

They only capture the sun from the very top of the panel.

But in the future, we're gonna have bifacial modules.

And what that means is that we will have the ability to

capture the sun from behind the panel as well as from

the front of the panel.

So on the snowy winter days that we have here in Michigan,

you're gonna have the sun reflect off of that snow.

It's gonna hit that panel, and that will provide much more

energy for our customers, 365 days a year.

That's excellent.

Anybody that's been out on a really snow-covered day knows

just how bright that reflection can be.

Now, these solar panels, these are fixed, correct?

These are fixed panels, and that's another improvement

in technology is we're gonna have single-axis trackers,

and that is what it's gonna do.

It's gonna track with the sun to give more and more power

throughout the day.

So I know that Consumers Energy is also involved in a lot of

different alternate forms of energy generation.

-Let's go talk about that. -Absolutely.

Jessica, as we look at alternate ways to generate

power and the energy mix that'll provide us with

a greener future,

hydroelectric is a big part of that.

Tell me what Consumers Energy is doing in that field.

[Jessica] Consumers Energy operates Ludington Pump Storage

Facility, which acts like a really large battery.

And we have operated it for 50 years.

When built, it was the largest one in the world.

And even 50 years later, it is still one of the largest.

When you talk about it being a battery, explain to me how

the whole system works.

It is a facility that sits on Lake Michigan.

And when we have beautiful sunny days where our solar

facilities are generating a lot of power, a lot of extra power

than what people of Michigan really need, we use that power

in order to turn on reversible pumps.

Those reversible pumps pull up water into

an 840-acre reservoir.

It sits about 363 feet high.

That water sits there until people of Michigan

really need it.

And then we draw that down by gravity.

It spins a turbine generator and it creates power.

Wow, so it really is like a different kind of a battery,

like not the way we would typically think about it.

You use when demand is low, you pull that power up to

the reservoir and then just let gravity do the work.

[Jessica] Correct.

So, it sounds like it would be pretty clean.

It's just water that's flowing down by gravity to create power.

That's excellent.

Well, there's a new technology that I've just been learning

about that I'm really interested in finding out some

more about it, a renewable natural gas.

-Can we talk about that? -Yeah, absolutely, let's go.

Well, Jessica, we're all pretty familiar with the way natural

gas has been provided for us for a very long time, which is

you drill for it. So how can that be renewable?

That process is definitely not a renewable process.

What is renewable that we're working on is that we utilize

cows and manure.

And so that manure generates methane gas, which can be

collected and it'll provide a low-cost, clean energy

alternative to the natural gas we provide today.

Is it the same as fossilized natural gas?

They're chemically exactly the same.

The only difference is that we are getting that from

a renewable resource, which is cow manure.

Consumers Energy doesn't operate its own dairy farm.

How are you making all that happen?

We've got two industries that are combining together.

You have an energy utility and you have your local

community farm dairies.

So we're gonna come together and we're going to be able to

create a low-cost alternative to natural gas.

How have the dairy farmers been reacting to all this?

[Jessica] They've been excited.

I think it's a great opportunity.

And one story we have is that we are building a 140-megawatt

solar facility called Spring Creek.

And next to that is also Spring Creek Dairy Farms.

And joining those two together, it really sets up that

Spring Creek Dairy Farm to be very prosperous

here at the state of Michigan.

Thank you very much for teaching me about a lot of

great new technologies that are gonna be happening in

energy production. -Yeah, you're welcome.

[Greg] I'm meeting with Neil Dreisig, Executive Director of

Natural Gas Strategy and Projects to discuss clean,

reliable, and affordable energy sources.

-Hey, Neil. -Hi, Greg.

-How are you? -Doing great, thanks.

This facility is really something else.

Tell me how this all works.

This is a compressor station, and how this works is we take

gas from outside the state, it comes in through

transmission lines into this facility.

And what this facility does is it takes it, pressurizes it

and pushes it underground.

Now the unique part about this is Michigan is geographically

disadvantaged in that it's a peninsula,

but it's geologically advantaged in that we have

naturally occurring underground formations.

These underground formations are about as close as you can

get to an underground storage tank.

Well, what would the advantage for your customers be in

storing the gas this way?

We buy the majority of our gas in the summertime

when prices are low.

We take the gas, we store it in these formations.

When the colder months hit, we take the gas out of

the formations and deliver it to customers

when those prices are higher.

But the best part is that the customer is paying

the lower summer rate.

Now, what are some of the other strategies that

Consumers Energy has to help people

reduce their energy costs.

One of our favorite things to do is to partner with customers

by going into their homes and helping them understand how

energy efficiency works,

strategies on how to use less energy.

Well, that seems a little backward that an energy

provider would want their customers to use less of

the product, but I guess that's one of the ways that you're

taking care of Michiganders.

That's one way they can count on us, Greg.

[Greg] Next, I met with Kelsea Salgado, who has had various

roles at Consumers Energy.

Kelsea, we've been talking a lot today about

the transition away from coal and fossil fuels to renewable

energies, and you've kind of

followed the company through that transition.

Tell me a little bit about your story.

I started with Consumers Energy in the call center,

and then I went from the call center to

an auxiliary operator with the coal plant.

Once it was announced what the future was for the coal

plant, I then transitioned to the underground light

department, and that's where I've been ever since.

[Greg] OK, well tell me about that transition.

Did Consumers make that easy for you?

Yeah, they made it extremely easy.

There's a multi-level process as you work your way up in that

particular department.

But we have, it's a combination of in-class training,

in-the-field training, and then the apprenticeship

that happens after that. -Excellent.

Well, let's talk about the underground power lines

because we're here on the west side of Grand Rapids. -Yes.

And as I look up, there are not a lot of power lines.

So tell me about that process.

[Kelsea] So we go ahead and take the above-ground lines

and we install them underground.

[Greg] How do you get the power lines underground

without digging up the whole town?

[Kelsea] The boring machine, when you set it up, you'll set

it up and back it up into an area in the direction that

you want the rods to go.

Once the rods are in the ground, you're actually

going underneath the driveways.

You're going underneath the sidewalks.

Oftentimes you're going underneath trees.

And then you place the wire on the opposite end of

wherever you're going.

And then you pull the wire actually through the ground.

Sometimes you use water, sometimes you don't.

That just has to do with the boring machine itself.

So once you get the wire through, that's when you start

putting the transformers and other mechanisms on top of

it, or running them up the poles, if there is still

that connection to overhead.

And that's when we work jointly with the above ground linemen.

Clearly, it's aesthetically pleasing to not have

power lines everywhere.

But does it have other impacts as well?

Before being an auxiliary operator,

I was working at the call center.

And the call center gave me a front-row seat to hearing all

the calls from customers, whether it was down power

lines, it was tree on wire, the arcing and sparking that

will happen anytime you have a wire across the road.

There's a lot of dangers that are affiliated with that,

whether it's an ice storm, there's rain, whatever kind of

inclement weather that you have, putting them

underground will eliminate or at least manage that risk to

a much more maintainable level, making it much more reliable

for our neighborhoods. -Kelsea, thank you very much.

I wish you nothing but luck with your new role with

Consumers Energy. Let's get on out of here.

Wonderful, thank you.

[Greg] I'm heading back to Grand Rapids to talk to Lauren Snyder

about their energy efficiency programs.

-Hey, Lauren. -Hey Greg, how'd it go out there?

It was great.

I got to see and learn so much today.

I am so glad to hear that.

OK, so before we leave, I have one more story to share

with you that is really near and dear to my heart.

So the city of Flint, we identified an opportunity to

help some residents there really benefit from our energy

efficiency programs.

And to benefit, you have to have good roofing, you have to

have proper insulation, upgraded windows,

things like that.

And at no cost to them, we did those things so that

when we came in with our programs,

they could actually see savings that were sustainable.

The next thing that we're doing in Flint is around

workforce development.

We see an opportunity to go beyond just energy to help

support our communities.

It's an opportunity for residents in Flint to learn

a new skill, and it benefits us because we're developing

a pipeline of new workers into our programs.

So it really demonstrates how together, our communities can

count on us to help deliver a more sustainable future.

Wow.

That really is a next level community engagement.

-Yes. -[Greg] Excellent.

Well, I know you're heading off to Inventionland to meet up

with George, and I've got to get back to Pittsburgh.

-OK! -Let's go.

Hey, Lauren. Welcome to Inventionland.

-Thanks for having me. -Oh, you bet.

Well, I got a great picture, and it's your grandfather,

so you must be a third-gen. -I am.

I'm a third-generation employee of Consumers Energy,

and that's Russ Youngdahl Sr., my grandfather.

Oh my goodness.

And I hear he's quite an innovator.

He was involved with this massive hydroelectric plant

back in the day, wasn't he? -He was.

You're looking at it.

That's what it was back in the early '70s,

and that's what it is today.

So this powers 1800 megawatts of electricity, which equates

to 1.4 million homes. -Oh my goodness.

And you're tied to that. Way to go.

Well, you know what else?

I got this picture from your team.

-You have a great team. -Yeah.

And I was thinking, that looks like a robotic dog.

And you know, at my house, we have dogs,

and we love our dogs.

And they, while we're sleeping, they keep up security

and they monitor. -Oh yeah, exactly right.

So this is our robotic dog, Spot.

And his role is to patrol our substations and use

infrared technology to identify if there's any issues.

And if he comes across an issue, it will alert

our crews to come out and fix the issue before

a power outage occurs. -That makes a lot of sense.

Does Spot have his own like, doghouse?

Actually, he does. Yes, he does.

That's where he goes to recharge.

And then your team sent me this unique device.

-What is this? -Yeah, yeah.

So, you know, we've talked a lot about how we generate

power and we also distribute that power to our customers

over power lines.

And we have enough power lines to circle the globe nearly

four times. -Wow.

It's a lot of power lines.

So this is called a line sensor.

And this line sensor hooks onto the power line.

And it allows us to identify the source of the outage so

that our crews know where to go and they're faster at

restoring power. -Oh, I like this device.

Well, everybody, thanks for tuning in for

"Tomorrow's World Today." We'll see you next time.

[George] And remember, tomorrow's world is where

inspiration and creation drive innovation in production.