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CMS Energy said Tuesday that it would sell off non-utility renewable energy development operations at its NorthStar Clean Energy Services subsidiary, a non-regulated entity that operates about 1.8 GW of generation in Michigan, Ohio, Texas and other states.
The Jackson, Michigan-based company said the move would simplify its corporate structure, net about $500 million and set it up to generate nearly all of its earnings from its regulated utilities after 2027. Those utilities, which do business as Consumers Energy, serve 1.8 million electric customers and 1.7 million gas customers across central and western Lower Michigan.
Under the plan, CMS Energy will retain NorthStar’s key assets in Michigan, the company said. Those include Dearborn Industrial Generation, a 770-MW waste- and gas-fired cogeneration plant near Detroit; two gas-fired peaker plants in south-central Michigan; and four Michigan solar installations totaling about 500 MW of capacity.
“We're reallocating capital away from NorthStar so more of the upside and more of the growth will come from the utility. And over time, we're financing that more efficiently by not allocating capital to renewable development at NorthStar,” Srikanth Maddipati, CMS Energy’s newly installed chief financial officer, said on the company’s Tuesday earnings call.
