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Local News

Consumers Energy Announces Plan to End Coal Use by 2025

Consumers Energy today announced a sweeping proposal to stop using coal as a fuel source for electricity by 202515 years faster than currently planned. The plan would make the company one of the first in the nation to go coal-free and provide a 20-year blueprint to meet Michigan’s energy needs while protecting the environment for future generations.  

 

The plan, which requires regulatory approval, ensures Consumers will:

-Be among the first utilities in the nation to go coal-free by 2025;

-Use 90 percent clean energy resources by 2040;

-Build nearly 8,000 megawatts of solar energy to power Michigan’s homes and businesses by 2040; 

-Stay on the path to achieve net zero carbon emissions, and

-Save customers about $650 million through 2040.

 

The solar ramp-up has started and will continue throughout the 2020s. Consumers Energy currently operates solar power plants at Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University and in Cadillac and purchases solar generation from several sites in Michigan.

 

To ensure continued reliable, affordable energy for Michigan and the Midwest during this historic transition away from coal generation, Consumers Energy proposes buying four existing natural gas-fired power plants in the state: Covert Generating Station in Van Buren County; Dearborn Industrial Generation in Wayne County; Kalamazoo River Generating Station in Kalamazoo County; and Livingston Generating Station in Otsego County. The proposed purchases require state and federal regulatory approvals. The Kalamazoo River and Livingston plants are smaller and used primarily to meet peak demand.

 

These natural gas plants — along with Consumers Energy’s current natural gas-fired power plants in Zeeland and Jackson — would supply steady, reliable electricity for homes and businesses as the company invests more heavily in renewable energy and continues to explore emerging technology to minimize impact on the environment.

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