MECA News

On Monday, United States Congressman Jack Bergman visited Wolverine Power Cooperative’s state-of-the-art Alpine Power Plant to tour the facility and learn about the plant’s vital role for Wolverine’s members and Northern Michigan’s grid reliability. The Alpine Power Plant natural gas facility, completed in 2016, provides more than 400 MW of peaking generation, as well as essential transmission support, for Wolverine’s members and Northern Michigan’s [...]

MECA and its member co-ops are conducting a first-of-its-kind, statewide employee education and training assessment this month. Results will be used to develop an in-state training program to be hosted by MECA later this year. "We're very good at using data to measure almost everything we do in the energy industry," says Doug Snitgen, MECA executive vice-president. "But when it comes to selecting [...]

30-foot waves rolled across Lake Superior on Tuesday, October 24. Winds near the shoreline gusted to over 60 mph taking down trees and powerlines in over two dozen locations in Alger, Marquette and Schoolcraft counties. The Upper Peninsula was hit with a weather bomb. A ‘weather bomb’ is an unofficial term for a rapidly intensifying storm that typically develops over the water when a [...]

The Governor’s Energy Excellence Awards honors Michigan organizations and individuals for outstanding achievement in reducing energy waste. This year, MECA EO Collaborative members received awards for Best Project – Public for Ewen Trout Creek School District (Ontonagon) and Best Project – Agriculture for Friske Orchards (Great Lakes Energy). Ewen Trout Creek is one of Michigan’s most rural school districts with only 205 students. [...]

Alger Delta Cooperative Electric Association (Alger Delta) celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. Alger Delta Electric is a proud member of WPPI Energy, a not-for-profit wholesale energy provider and joint action agency. The co-op’s milestone anniversary was recognized at an awards luncheon during WPPI Energy’s annual meeting in September. Alger Delta’s CEO Tom Harrell, Directors Mike Lawless (District 3, Grand Marais) and Darryl Small [...]

MECA hosted an Electric Cooperative Foundations workshop at the Wolverine Power Cooperative office in Cadillac on Sept. 20. “This workshop has three main goals,” said Doug Snitgen, Executive Vice President at MECA. “We want every participant to gain a better understanding of the cooperative model, connect the cooperative principles and values to their own daily work, and meet employees from other Michigan co-ops [...]

A day in the life of a lineman and the Michigan Partners for Power 2018 project in Bolivia headlined the 80th Annual Meeting of HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Cooperative on August 19 in Mount Pleasant. Blanchard linemen Rick Warchuck and Cody Teegardin talked about their jobs as linemen and how being away from home for mutual aid during storms affects their families. Both men [...]