The Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) is an electrical power utility provider headquartered in Marquette, Michigan, with service centers in Escanaba, Houghton, Iron River, Ishpeming, Munising and Ontonagon.
The Upper Peninsula Power Company was formed in 1947 as a result of the merging of three electric utility providers: the Houghton County Electric Light Company, the Copper District Power Company, and Iron Range Light and Power. [1]
UPPCO joined a coalition led by Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS) in 1961 to create a coordination of electrical service providers in Upper Michigan and Wisconsin. Through this agreement, the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan System (WUMS) was created with the ultimate goal of increasing the electrical grid resiliency by coordinating operational tasks such as equipment maintenance and construction of infrastructure facilities. [2]
In 1994, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS) formed the WPS Resources Corporation which became the holding company most partnered electric utility providers (excluding UPPCO) operated under at the time. UPPCO was eventually acquired by the holding company in 1998. [2]
In 2007, UPPCO negotiated a separation from Integrys Energy Group (the new holding company resulting from a merger between WPS Resources Corporation and Peoples Energy Corp.). The separation was effectively completed in 2017 and UPPCO resumed operation as an independent electric utility provider.
The UPPCO service area includes 10 counties in the central and western portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula including: Alger, Delta, Marquette, Menominee, Schoolcraft, Baraga, Houghton, Iron, Ontonagon, and Keweenaw. The company serves approximately 52,000 customers which equates to approximately 12 customers per square mile. [3]
UPPCO generates approximately 20% of the electrical power distributed to its customers. Additional power is purchased from Consumers Energy in lower Michigan and the Wisconsin Energy Corporation (WE Energies). UPPCO operates multiple electrical power generation plants primarily including hydroelectric dams. Operational facilities include:
UPCCO operates all transmission lines at 138,000 volts and has transmission interconnections with Wisconsin Public Service Corporation as well as Wisconsin Energies and the Cloverland Electric Cooperative.
UPPCO operates sub-transmission systems at 69,000 volts and has sub-transmission interconnections with the Marquette Board of Light and Power, Alger-Delta Electric Cooperative, and Cloverland Electric Cooperative.
UPPCO operates its distribution network at 12,470/7,200 volts. The company's distribution network includes approximately 3,300 miles of both single and three phase power circuits served by 58 distribution substations. [3]
The L'Anse Indian Reservation is the land base of the federally recognized Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the historic Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians.. The reservation is located primarily in two non-contiguous sections on either side of the Keweenaw Bay in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Keweenaw Bay Community also manages the separate Ontonagon Indian Reservation.
The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board, operating as Manitoba Hydro, is the electric power and natural gas utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1961, it is a provincial Crown Corporation, governed by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board and the Manitoba Hydro Act. Today the company operates 16 interconnected generating stations. It has more than 527,000 electric power customers and more than 263,000 natural gas customers. Since most of the electrical energy is provided by hydroelectric power, the utility has low electricity rates. Stations in Northern Manitoba are connected by a HVDC system, the Nelson River Bipole, to customers in the south. The internal staff are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 998 while the outside workers are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2034.
M-35 is a state trunkline highway in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of the US state of Michigan. It runs for 128 miles (206 km) in a general north–south direction and connects the cities of Menominee, Escanaba, and Negaunee. The southern section of M-35 in Menominee and Delta counties carries two additional designations; M-35 forms a segment of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour, and it is the UP Hidden Coast Recreational Heritage Trail, which is a part of what is now called the Pure Michigan Byways Program. Along the southern section, the highway is the closest trunkline to the Green Bay, a section of Lake Michigan. The northern section of the highway turns inland through sylvan areas of the UP, connecting rural portions of Delta and Marquette counties.
Keweenaw National Historical Park is a unit of the U.S. National Park Service. Established in 1992, the park celebrates the life and history of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a federal-local cooperative park made up of two primary units, the Calumet Unit and the Quincy Unit, and almost two dozen cooperating "Heritage Sites" located on federal, state, and privately owned land in and around the Keweenaw Peninsula. The National Park Service owns approximately 1,700 acres (690 ha) in the Calumet and Quincy Units. Units are located in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties.
The Escanaba River is a 52.2-mile-long (84.0 km) river on the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan.
Edison Sault Electric Company was a public utility that provided electricity to the eastern portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Its service area covered four counties.
Integrys Energy Group, Inc. was an American energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed by the merger of WPS Resources Corp. and Peoples Energy Corp. on February 21, 2007. The chairman, President, and chief executive officer was Charles A. Schrock. On June 23, 2014, Integrys announced that it was being acquired by Wisconsin Energy Corporation for $9.1 billion. Also in 2014, Integrys entered into an agreement to sell 100% of the Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Partners LP for $298.9 million.
WEC Energy Group is an American company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that provides electricity and natural gas to 4.4 million customers across four states.
Michael Prusi is a former Democratic member of the Michigan Senate, representing the 38th district from 2003 to 2010. His district included Gogebic, Iron, Ontonagon, Delta, Dickinson, Keweenaw, Houghton, Baraga, Marquette, Alger, Luce, Schoolcraft, and Menominee counties in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Previously he was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1995 through 2000. During his final term, he served as the Senate Minority Leader, following the election of the previous leader, Mark Schauer, to the U.S. House.
The Tinker Dam is a hydroelectric dam built in Tinker on the Aroostook River in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and operated jointly by WPS Energy and NB Power. Its power house has a capacity of 34 megawatts.
The Presque Isle Power Plant was a coal power plant located at Marquette, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Superior. The plant has 5 inactive generating units with a total net generating capacity of 431 Megawatts. This plant has two smokestacks 400 and 410 feet in height and was built in 1955 by Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. Units 1 and 2 were retired on January 1, 2007. Units 3 and 4 were retired on October 1, 2009. Units 5 through 9 went into service between 1975 and 1979 and were retired in March 2019.
ITC Holdings Corporation is an American energy company which owns and operates high-voltage electricity transmission networks. Headquartered in Novi, Michigan, ITC has operations in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian energy company Fortis Inc.
US Highway 41 (US 41) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. In Michigan, it is a state trunkline highway that enters the state via the Interstate Bridge between Marinette, Wisconsin, and Menominee, Michigan. The 278.769 miles (448.635 km) of US 41 that lie within Michigan serve as a major conduit. Most of the highway is listed on the National Highway System. Various sections are rural two-lane highway, urbanized four-lane divided expressway and the Copper Country Trail National Scenic Byway. The northernmost community along the highway is Copper Harbor at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The trunkline ends at a cul-de-sac east of Fort Wilkins State Park after serving the Central Upper Peninsula and Copper Country regions of Michigan.
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS) is a utility company headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The company serves more than 450,000 electric customers and more than 333,000 natural gas customers in 27 counties in eastern, northeastern northern, and central Wisconsin, and a small portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Hydroelectricity is, as of 2019, the second-largest renewable source of energy in both generation and nominal capacity in the United States. In 2021, hydroelectric power produced 31.5% of the total renewable electricity, and 6.3% of the total U.S. electricity.
Cloverland Electric Cooperative is an electric cooperative in Michigan, United States. It serves five counties on the eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as well as the cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and St. Ignace. Cloverland Electric Cooperative is based in Dafter, just south of Sault Ste, Marie.
The Saint Marys Falls Hydropower Plant is an 18-MW hydroelectric generating plant located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It extracts water from the St. Marys River under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers, and the power is taken up and distributed by the Cloverland Electric Cooperative, a rural utility that serves the Soo area.
Michigan's 38th Senate district is one of 38 districts in the Michigan Senate. The 38th district was created with the adoption of the 1963 Michigan Constitution, as the previous 1908 state constitution only permitted 34 senatorial districts. It has been represented by Republican Ed McBroom since 2019, succeeding fellow Republican Tom Casperson.