Consumers Energy recently shared a cleaner, leaner vision to serve customers for decades to come. On June 15, we filed a proposed long-term strategy to meet Michigan’s future energy needs through 2040.
What’s in the proposal?
The plan includes:
- Investing in more demand response, energy efficiency and grid modernization tools to reduce energy demand and manage customer load efficiently and effectively.
- Retiring two aging, coal-fired units at the Karn generating plant near Bay City in 2023.
- Adding 5,000 megawatts of solar energy throughout the 2020s, along with wind and battery storage.
If approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission and implemented, the plan would put us on a path to achieve our clean energy goals by 2040:
- Zero coal use to generate electricity.
- 80 percent carbon emissions reduction from 2005 levels.
What’s the timeline to transition away from coal?
Our transition away from coal began in April 2016 with the retirement of our seven oldest coal-fired generating plants. The plan for our remaining coal units includes:
- Karn 1 and 2: Retirement in 2023.
- Campbell 1 and 2; Karn 3 and 4: Retirement at the end of their design lives in 2031.
- Campbell 3: The youngest unit in our fleet and equipped with state-of-the-art air quality control systems would continue to serve customers until 2040.
“We’re grateful for the power the Karn coal units have provided for Michigan over the decades and proud of our co-workers who’ve operated and maintained them so faithfully. The company will be working actively to care for our co-workers through this transition,” said Patti Poppe, President and CEO of Consumers Energy and CMS Energy. “We plan to support Hampton Township and the Bay region as they re-imagine the local economic landscape after these units are retired.”
What’s in it for customers?
With our plan, we’re putting our home state on a path of success – ensuring our friends, families and neighbors have the affordable, reliable and clean energy they need today and tomorrow.
Under our plan, we expect customers to save as much as $18 billion through 2040.
Click to learn more about our proposed long-term strategy.
*This blog contains “forward-looking statements.” The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause CMS Energy’s and Consumers Energy’s results to differ materially. All forward-looking statements should be considered in the context of the risk and other factors detailed from time to time in CMS Energy’s and Consumers Energy’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
