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Consumer Energy Co. announced plans on Wednesday to end using coal-fired power plants by 2025 and purchase additional natural gas plants, making the Jackson-based utility one of the nation’s first energy companies to go coal-free.
“Today we are submitting our new clean energy plan, which outlines our plans to end coal use in our state by 2025,” said Garrick Rochow, CEO of Consumers Energy, during a virtual news conference.
Consumers Energy is calling for the closure of two coal-fired units at the JH Campbell power plant north of the Netherlands near Lake Michigan by 2025, six years ahead of the plant’s lifespan.
The company also plans to decommission a third unit at the Campbell plant by 2025, which was designed to operate through 2040. All three units at the Campbell plant generate a combined 1,440 megawatts at peak production.
“Ending coal as an electricity source is a historic moment for our company, our customers and for Michigan,” said Brandon Hofmeister, senior vice president for government, regulatory and public affairs for Consumers Energy. “By 2025, we will drastically reduce our environmental impact on the state and on the planet.”
Consumers Energy plans to purchase “a number of existing natural gas power plants” in Michigan, which will allow the company to eliminate coal within four years, Hofmeister said.
“By buying a used plant, we also get a lot for customers,” Hofmeister said during the virtual press conference. “We’re buying a used car instead of a new car and we’ll have the opportunity to move those assets faster toward our ultimate goal of net zero emissions by 2040.”
CMS listed separately in a regulatory filing that it has signed a purchase agreement to purchase a natural gas plant, the New Covert Generating Facility in Van Buren County, for $810 million from New Covert Generating Company LLC. The plant is a natural gas-fired combined cycle plant of 1,176 megawatts.
In the same filing, Consumers said it had entered into a separate purchase agreement to acquire three additional natural gas-fired power plants: Dearborn Industrial Generation, a 770 megawatt natural gas and waste gas cogeneration plant in Wayne County; Kalamazoo River Generating Station, a 75-megawatt plant in Kalamazoo County; and the Livingston Generating Station, a 156-megawatt plant in Otsego County, for $515 million. Those three plants are owned by other subsidiaries of the parent company of Consumers Energy CMS Energy Co. (NYSE: CMS).
Hoffmeister said stopping the use of coal 15 years ahead of schedule will “drasically reduce” consumer water consumption and the production of solid waste “and other air emissions” when the factories retire.
The amended renewable energy plan that Consumers Energy filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission on Wednesday also calls for the closure of the Dan E. Karn Generating Plant near Bay City to be pushed back to 2023, eight years ahead of schedule. . This power station with a peak capacity of 1,100 megawatts burns both natural gas and fuel oil.
The changes will accelerate Consumers Energy’s efforts to remove coal from its portfolio of energy resources as the company invests in more renewables, Rochow said.
Consumers have set a target for 90 percent of electrical generation to come from clean energy sources. The company has committed to adding 8,000 megawatts of solar electricity by 2040.
“Solar is at the center of our renewable energy strategy because it is clean, cost-effective and flexible,” Hofmeister said.
Consumers Energy plans to help the communities in Bay and Ottawa County affected by the early shutdown of coal plants “explore redevelopment options,” Hofmeister said.
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