TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Light and Power is looking for a new main campus, and they’ve chosen a vacant site just outside of city limits on Cedar Run Road.
The utility says it’s outgrown its current headquarters on Hastings Street, and building a new facility will save it money and allow it to do more with the space.
Brandie Ekren is the executive director of Traverse City Light and Power. She says the utility provider’s new headquarters will be a complete transformation for a site that used to be a dumping ground for coal ash
“It’s been capped. It’s been secured. And with our opportunity here, this would be an opportunity to add some solar,” Ekren said. “Hopefully, on top of that... absolutely the most important piece based on this journey with that property is being able to preserve as much of that beautiful landscape as possible.”
The new building will also feature classrooms where the power company can teach customers about renewable energy options like solar, geothermal and wind.
“It’s called a sustainable innovation campus for a reason,” Ekren said. “And the objective there is that it’s an opportunity to really create a space not only for our operations are utility operations, but to create a space where we are a living demonstration of what can be done when it comes to what we’re asking our customers to do/So we are asking our customers to go on this journey with renewables and sustainability, and being able to make certain the lights are staying on and the most environmentally friendly, possible manner.”
Plans are still in their early phases, and administrators, like Ekren, will be working on finalizing a budget over the winter.
“We will dedicate most of our time to really planning, sending out RFP for the renewables, key piece there, so that we can take advantage of some tax credit, benefits, which amounts to 40%, direct benefit there,” Ekren said. “And so being able to move forward with those items is the most critical between now and the end of June.”
Traverse City Light and Power hopes to open the building by 2029