Consumers Energy will end its coal-fired power generation within three years and speed up building thousands of megawatts in solar fields under a settlement with a stakeholder coalition negotiated under the utility’s long-term power supply plan.
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved the settlement agreement on Thursday, June 23. Under the deal, Consumers will close all three coal-fired units at the J.H. Campbell plant in Ottawa County in 2025, accelerate battery energy storage growth, and add nearly 8,000 megawatts of solar generation during the next 17 years.
Ending the use of coal power in Michigan factors heavily in state climate goals to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Federal statistics show power generation is responsible for 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, and more than 70% of industrial emissions in Michigan.
Environmentalists celebrated news of the settlement, which will allow Consumers to be among the first utility companies in the United States to be coal-free by 2025.
“Today’s approval is a strong step towards the clean energy future Michigan needs, one that phases out coal-power this decade, avoids reliance on new fossil gas plants, and significantly invests in clean resources such as solar,” said James Gignac, senior Midwest energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Margrethe Kearney, senior attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, said one of the most exciting aspects of this settlement deal is the recognition by the utility and state regulators of the role distributed solar energy plays in an equitable energy transition.
Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel burned for energy – meaning it produces the most greenhouse gas emissions – and its historical use heavily contributed to the accelerating worldwide climate crisis. An international panel of scientists recently warned the degree of climate change-related devastation in future decades will depend on what degree humans reduce carbon emissions in the coming years.
Consumers said the newly approved deal is not just good for the planet but would also create price stability and help customers save an estimated $600 million through 2040 compared to a prior version of its plan.
The new 20-year integrated resource plan calls for replacing the company’s coal energy with natural gas and renewable energy sources. Company officials are seeking tens of thousands of acres of suitable land across Michigan to construct vast fields of solar panels to meet climate promises.
Thousands of megawatts are expected to come online in the next several years as the company builds out its goal of 8,000 megawatts of solar power by 2040.
“We’re building a dramatically different energy landscape in which customers won’t have to choose between protecting the planet and their pocketbooks. We will do both while making sure our state has the reliable power it needs,” said Garrick Rochow, Consumers president and CEO.
While the plan does boost renewable energy generation, it will not move Consumers entirely away from fossil fuels.
As part of the agreement to offset the loss of coal energy, the utility will next year purchase the Covert Generating Station, a natural gas-fired plant in Van Buren County. That facility will bring more than 1,100 megawatts of power into the regional grid system which covers most of Michigan, and regulators said the move would boost reliability for the company’s customers.
Consumers additionally will continue to operate two of its D.E. Karn Generating Complex units through 2031, power facilities which run on natural gas and fuel oil. The company had planned to close those units next year.
Consumers will not acquire other natural gas plants, though, such as the Dearborn Industrial Generation plant in Wayne County, Kalamazoo River Generating Station in Kalamazoo County, and the Livingston Generating State in Otsego County, from a subsidiary of its corporate parent, CMS Energy. The company proposed those purchases last year.
Finally, the company is expected to ramp up its energy storage capacity to 75 megawatts by 2027, and 550 megawatts by 2040, as well as pursue an additional 700 megawatts through a new 10-year energy-purchase agreement with outside generators.
Consumers provides natural gas or electricity to 6.8 million residents across the Lower Peninsula as Michigan’s largest utility.
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