Latest news with #JHCampbell
Fast Company
4 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Coal power keeps getting more expensive—and that means higher electricity bills for Americans
Coal power is a dirtier energy source than renewables like wind and solar. But even for those Americans who don't care about climate, it's also a more expensive energy source—and the economics of using it as a power source just keep getting worse. As President Donald Trump tries to bolster the coal industry by ordering shuttered coal power plants to reopen, that means everyday Americans are likely to see their electricity bills spike. Coal power was 28% more expensive in 2024 than it was in 2021, according to a new analysis by Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based climate research firm. That means the cost of generating power with coal is rising faster than inflation, which increased by 16% over the same time period. The economics of coal have been bad for some time. A 2023 Energy Innovation report found that 99% of the existing coal plants across the U.S. are more expensive to run than to replace with renewables like wind, solar, or energy storage. In the past four years alone, more than 100 coal-fired units have closed for economic reasons. And yet Trump has ordered coal plants set for retirement to keep operating past their planned shut-down dates. The J.H. Campbell power plant in Michigan, for example, was scheduled to close May 31, but Trump ordered it to remain open. These orders to prop up the coal industry 'ignore the economic fundamentals underpinning coal's decline,' Energy Innovation's most recent report reads. And that affects Americans across the country: 'If coal plants are being kept online that would otherwise be retired, the cost of running those plants is going to be passed on to the electricity consumer,' says Michelle Solomon, a manager of the electricity program at the firm and the report's author Electricity rates are on the rise across the country, but states that rely heavily on coal, like West Virginia and Kentucky, are seeing even faster increases. Between 2021 and 2024—as 95% of the country's coal power plants have gotten more expensive to run—electricity rates in West Virginia have gone up 24%. (Since 2022, residential electricity prices have increased 13% on average across the country.) Coal is getting more expensive for a few reasons. In many areas, easy access to coal is gone, because it's already been mined for so long. That means it gets more expensive to continue mining for coal, Solomon says. Coal plants are also aging, and so they're more costly to maintain. Per Energy Innovation, the average age of U.S. coal plants is 43 years old, though multiple plants are pushing 70. These factors also affect Trump's decision to keep operating coal plants that were set for retirement. Utilities have already planned for those plants to shutter, meaning they have likely burned down their stockpiles of coal and may have even deferred maintenance, since they wouldn't be kept running. Rushing to buy coal or scrambling to complete last-minute maintenance could add even more costs. Renewables have seen some price volatility with inflation too, Solomon says, and this most recent Energy Innovation report didn't update renewables analysis. But it's clear the coal fleet is getting significantly more expensive. And given that coal has already been more expensive than renewables for years, 'it's fair to say that the economics [of coal] continue to get worse compared to renewables,' she adds. It's hard to say exactly how much rising coal prices will affect someone's electricity bills, especially when it comes to keeping open planned-for-retirement coal plants. But typically, the costs of operating these plants are passed on to consumers, Solomon says. 'The coal fleet, because it's more expensive than inflation, is putting inflationary pressure on U.S. electricity prices. 'So if the administration's goal is to make energy cheaper and to bring down inflation, keeping old coal plants running is completely opposite to what they should be doing,' Solomon says.
Washington Post
01-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump is forcing this dirty, costly coal plant to stay open
An emergency order last month from Washington rattled Michigan regulators: The Trump administration reversed the state's plan to retire an aging power plant, forcing it to remain open and continue burning coal. Michigan and the plant's operator have mounds of evidence that closing the 63-year-old J.H. Campbell plant on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan won't create a shortage of electricity. But the Trump administration adopted a different view, claiming the Midwest is overly dependent on intermittent wind and solar power. Energy Secretary Chris Wright exercised rarely used federal authority to block the closure, which had been scheduled for May 31. His order requires the plant to continue operating for three more months — and possibly longer. The move will collectively increase electric bills for ratepayers in the Midwest by tens of millions of dollars, according to Michigan officials. More broadly, it was seen as an opening salvo in President Donald Trump's effort to reverse America's transition to clean energy and restore the nation's dependence on burning fossil fuels. The administration's strategy includes using federal power to overturn the plans of local utilities and regulators. 'It came as a surprise to everybody, and it was baffling why they chose this plant,' said Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. 'Nobody asked for this order. The power grid operator did not. The utility that owns the plant did not. The state regulator did not.' Trump attempted to unravel state-level zero-emissions goals in his first term with little to show for it. This time around, his strategy, guided in part by Project 2025, is more far-reaching, based on federal mandates and an expansive vision for what types of energy should be prioritized on regional electrical grids. The White House claims that the intermittent nature of solar and wind generation will lead to energy shortages and fail to meet the surging electricity demands of artificial intelligence. Experts said they could not recall another case in history where an administration unilaterally ordered the extension of a power plant's service without being asked by the owner or state officials. The administration has already laid the groundwork for the Michigan order to be followed by other such emergency orders in other states in the coming months. Late on Friday, Wright used the authority to halt the long-planned retirement of the Eddystone Generating Station near Philadelphia, a 1960s-era power plant that burns gas and fuel oil. Trump allies in individual state legislatures, meanwhile, are introducing local laws that would prioritize electricity from fossil fuels on power grids. 'This administration is committed to ensuring Americans have access to reliable, affordable, and secure energy that isn't dependent on whether the sun shines or the wind blows,' the Energy Department said a statement to The Washington Post. The administration's view that renewable energy destabilizes energy supplies is disputed by many experts, who say batteries and enhanced distribution systems allow power grids to thrive on wind and solar energy. 'The view that we need to prioritize these traditional resources is stuck in the past,' said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. 'The cost of falling back on this kind of techno-pessimism is you lose momentum to build a more modern grid. Instead, you are doubling down on plants that need to be replaced because they are dirty and expensive.' Michigan's Campbell plant, according to the Sierra Club, is the largest source of greenhouse gas and local air pollution in western Michigan. It opened in 1962 and at one point was planned to run until as late as 2040. But plant owner Consumers Energy opted to close it this year as part of a 2022 settlement with the community and its broader plan to transition off coal altogether. Scripps said economics were a major driver in the early retirement, as the utility can generate energy more cheaply from gas, wind and solar. Wright's emergency order keeps the plant open three months, the maximum amount of time the law allows. But he has the option of issuing new three-month orders each time one expires. Some lawmakers in Michigan are expecting exactly that. Trump, in an April executive action, directed Wright to issue such orders or take any other action necessary to keep open many large fossil plants scheduled for closure if the energy they generate is being replaced by wind or solar power. Some local lawmakers are supporters of the federal intervention. 'I hope it stays open for more than just a few months,' Republican Michigan state Rep. Luke Meerman said of the Campbell plant. He signed an April 30 letter with colleagues urging the administration to keep it open. 'Given it has a lifespan out to 2040, it seems premature and a waste of resources to shut it down.' The interventions in local power supplies dovetail with other steps. The administration aims to largely eliminate climate change as a consideration in any power grid planning, potentially resulting in the release of massive amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The Energy Department also has taken control from independent regulators and grid operators the job of drafting of certain power grid supply rules. The White House has ordered the department to develop new formulas that could bump wind and solar projects to the back of the line. 'Technologies like battery energy storage that enhance grid operations but do not fit into that myopic definition of reliability likely won't get the same access,' said Aaron Zubaty, CEO of Eolian, a large clean energy developer. Declaring state and municipal clean energy goals 'burdensome and ideologically motivated' in an April order, Trump directed the Justice Department to lay the groundwork for legal action against as many as 25 states that have adopted them. 'There has been this bias for years against fossil energy that has gotten us into a dangerous situation with a weakened grid,' said Diana Furchtgott‑Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at the conservative Heritage Foundation 'It needs to be rectified.' The administration plans for reshaping how the United States generates electricity mirrors elements of the Heritage-led Project 2025 blueprint for remaking government. Project 2025 includes detailed plans for invoking emergency powers to reorient the electricity system toward fossil fuels and usurping authority from grid operators and state regulators, whose job it is to avoid blackouts and spikes in prices. The policies are driven by a conservative backlash against Obama- and Biden-era rules that conservatives argue distorted free markets at the expense of fossil fuels, said Brent Bennett, director of the energy policy team at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank aligned with Trump. 'It's kind of become an ideological battle,' he said. That battle is also playing out on the state level in places such as Nebraska, which passed a law last year requiring that any gas, coal or nuclear power plant that is retired be replaced by plants that can provide an equal amount of around-the-clock electricity. Utah and Wyoming also passed laws in 2024 that aggressively prioritize such 'dispatchable' electricity over intermittent sources like wind and solar. Texas is requiring that all new wind and solar connected to the power grid starting in 2027 be paired with other resources that can backstop it. A measure that would prohibit developers from using battery storage systems as the backup passed the state Senate this year. The administration justified the Campbell plant order by pointing to a report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, a quasi-government agency focused on keeping the power grid from buckling, that warns the Midwest is facing a power crunch this summer. NERC officials said they welcomed the administration's move. But back in Michigan, regulators warn it will merely raise bills without making the system any more stable. Consumers Energy said in an email to The Post that it will comply with the administration's order and it can secure the coal needed to keep the plant operational. But that could prove a challenge amid reports that contracts for coal and the railcars to the plant have expired. Regulators say several employees who run the plant have already moved on to jobs elsewhere or opted for early retirement packages. 'This is just bad policy,' said Howard Learner, CEO of the Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center. 'It is moving us backward by imposing what may be significant costs on ratepayers to run a coal plant which is no longer economic and regulators have found is not necessary.'
Washington Post
27-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump administration orders Michigan coal plant to stay open
DETROIT — The U.S. Energy Department ordered a Michigan coal-fired power plant to remain open, at least until late August, citing possible electricity shortfalls in the central U.S. State regulators immediately fired back, saying it's unnecessary to keep Consumers Energy's J.H. Campbell plant open. It was supposed to close May 31.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Campbell coal plant's closure delayed 90 days with Energy Secretary's emergency order
The plant, operating since 1962, was originally scheduled to close partially in 2030 and wholly in 2040. But the utility announced in 2021 it was moving the plan up by 15 years for an operations end date of May 31, 2025. [Photo/Courtesy] U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order on Friday, May 23 — just eight days before the J.H. Campbell plant in Port Sheldon Township was scheduled to shut down, a plan that has been in place since 2021. The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution on in February urging Consumers Energy to delay the closure of the J.H. Campbell plant, however, it stopped short of filing a lawsuit in April. Consumers Energy previously said the plan for closure was vetted and approved from multiple stakeholders and regulatory agencies; it is unknown how much coal remains at the site to continue operations. PORT SHELDON TWP. — The long-planned closing of the coal-fired J.H. Campbell plant in Port Sheldon Township will be delayed at least 90 days after Trump Administration officials issued an emergency order directing Consumers Energy to remain 'available for operation' going into peak summer demand. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued the emergency order on Friday, May 23 — just eight days before the plant was scheduled to shut down, a plan that has been in place since 2021. The U.S. Department of Energy said the move is intended 'to minimize the risk of blackouts and address critical grid security issues in the Midwestern region of the United States ahead of the high electricity demand expected this summer.' Wright directed the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, in coordination with Consumers Energy to ensure that the 1,560 megawatt plant to '[remain] available for operation, minimizing any potential capacity shortfall that could lead to unnecessary power outages.' 'Today's emergency order ensures that Michiganders and the greater Midwest region do not lose critical power generation capability as summer begins and electricity demand regularly reach high levels,' Wright said in a prepared news release. The Energy Department said the emergency order, which is issued by the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, is authorized by Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act and is in accordance with President Trump's Executive Order: Declaring a National Energy Emergency to ensure that power generation availability in the region does not 'dip below 2024 capacity levels.' 'This administration will not sit back and allow dangerous energy subtraction policies threaten the resiliency of our grid and raise electricity prices on American families. With President Trump's leadership, the Energy Department is hard at work securing the American people access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy that powers their lives regardless of whether the wind is blowing, or the sun is shining.' On May 14, Consumers officials said the planned May 31 closure of the Campbell plant remained on track. After Wright issued the emergency order on Friday, however, the company said it would comply. 'Consumers Energy plans to comply with the 90-day pause from the Department of Energy. We are reviewing the executive action and the overall impact on our company,' Katie Carey, director of media relations for Consumers, said in a Friday statement to ONN. The emergency order came after a yearlong effort from a local grassroots organization petitioned Ottawa County officials to intervene in some way to prevent the closure of the Campbell plant. Read More: County poised to urge delay in closing Campbell as officials say plan likely won't change Organizers of the 'Save the Campbell' effort coalesced at the beginning of 2024 — mainly members of far-right fundamentalist groups such as Ottawa Impact, The Gideon 300 and the Ottawa County GOP — said a government-owned electric co-op was possible if voters approved a 'home rule charter' at the ballot box. The issue was never put up for a vote, so a change in government structure is not forthcoming; however, local officials asked Consumers for reassurance earlier this year that local energy supplies will be uninterrupted as the Campbell plant headed for closure at the end of May. In February, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution urging delay in the plant's closure, however, officials stopped short April 22 of opting to bring litigation to prevent the closure altogether. Commissioners pointed to two separate reports — from MISO as well as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC — that gave them concerns over the energy grid's reliability once the Campbell is taken offline. MISO published the results of its annual survey in June 2024, which indicated at the time that there was 'a growing capacity deficit beginning in the 2025-26 planning year.' 'Next summer, MISO could see resource sufficiency ranging from a 2.7 GW capacity shortfall to a 1.1 GW surplus, underscoring the need to accelerate resource additions, monitor large load additions, and delay resource retirements to reliably manage the anticipated growth in electricity demand,' according to the survey. NERC is a nonprofit international regulatory authority that more broadly looks at reliability standards as well as seasonal and long‐term outlooks for the entire U.S. grid. The group published a long-term reliability assessment in December 2024 that labeled MISO's section of the grid as 'high risk,' meaning the grid subsection that includes the state of Michigan 'falls below established resource adequacy criteria in the next five years.' 'High-risk areas are likely to experience a shortfall in electricity supplies at the peak of an average summer or winter season. Extreme weather, producing wide-area heat waves or deep-freeze events, poses an even greater threat to reliability,' the report said. Dena Isabell, stakeholder engagement manager at Consumers, told commissioners in February that Consumers adopted in 2021 that helped the company identify about $600 million in savings for its customers over 20 years with the retirement of the plant. 'That includes renewables that get brought onto the grid, which are cheaper than what we have,' she said, 'so that is a savings to our customers, which is part of the clean and affordable and reliable energy — so it's an economic decision.' One component of the cost savings was coal. Rich Houtteman, community affairs manager for Consumers, explained to commissioners in February that the cost of shipping coal is a huge financial consideration for the energy company. 'It's about $50 a ton to ship excess coal off-site,' he said. 'We had 30,000 tons. That's a lot for our customers. So we're trying to burn up all the coal as we kind of bring in 130 train car loads a day.' Consumers did not respond to an inquiry Friday evening on how much coal remained on the site. OI Commissioner Allison Miedema — who strongly backed the county suing Consumers to prevent the Campbell closure — asked the utility company's officials in February what new assets were being brought onto the grid. Isabell pointed to renewables as well as natural gas assets. 'We do have a lot of renewables that are coming online, so that is very important to us,' she said. 'We do have natural gas. We like natural gas. It is part of our future that we have — it is agile, it's able to come online quickly, we can dispatch that in a matter of hours, versus a matter of days in the cold — so we see natural gas as part of our future.' Isabell also noted wind and solar and battery storage, 'which is going to be a major, major component and required by law, so we are going to be adding a ton of battery storage as well.' After Isabell noted that the state's new clean energy laws required energy companies to have clean and sustainable energy sources by 2040, OI Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea asked if the new Trump Administration's policies could lead to a relaxation in Consumers' plans. 'Is it possible we might see a change in that legislation that would lift those requirements? I'm just wondering if it could be slowed down if we're not looking at deadlines until 2040,' Rhodea said. Isabell said Consumers was committed to its clean energy plan in 2021 — before the legislation in Michigan was approved in 2023 — and that bringing massive assets like the Campbell on and off the grid is no simple or quick task. 'We do our best to try to be as agile as possible, but assets like this aren't something that you can just bring on and take off very quickly,' she said. 'So we do our best in these integrated resources plans to try to plan for what we think could be possible in the future. But we can't plan for everything that could happen with any type of policy. So our plan to retire (Campbell) was on the last integrated resource plan, which does actually meet the new state policy, which works for us going forward. 'But large assets like that aren't something that you can just quickly change with new policies in two years.' The integrated resource plans are required by the Michigan Public Service Commission, a regulatory agency that oversees public utilities in Michigan. 'The Michigan Public Service Commission requires us to create a 20-year plan that says, 'How are you going to serve your customer, clean, reliable and affordable energy for the next 20 years?' And this requires us to come up with scenarios,' Isabell said. Those scenarios are then presented to stakeholders in a series of workshops over two years with community stakeholders who then provide feedback to help. 'We're retooling, and we're getting ready to do our next integrated resource plan, new technologies, new laws, new things like that require us to be agile. We constantly need to update those plans and make sure that we're giving our customers the best technology and the best cost we possibly can,' Isabell said. The Campbell Plant is Consumers' last — and largest — coal-fired plant in the state. The plant, operating since 1962, was originally scheduled to close partially in 2030 and wholly in 2040. But the utility announced in 2021 it was moving the plan up by 15 years for an operations end date of May 31, 2025. The utility was seeking to end coal use altogether by 2025 as part of its goal to achieve carbon neutrality. Since the announcement, Consumers has been actively preparing the plant for 'full retirement,' a spokesperson said last year. 'The complex will officially go into retirement with an aim to go cold and dark after 2025,' said former Consumers spokesperson Kristen Van Kley. 'In 2026 and on, the complex will be demolished with a plan to restore the site over time.' The plant, when operating at full capacity, can generate 1,450 megawatts of electricity. Michigan consumed about 113,740 gigawatt hours of electricity in 2019, according to a 2020 report from the U.S. Department of Energy. At the time, Van Kley said new technologies would ensure Consumers would be able to continue supporting the statewide grid. 'Energy efficiency, demand response and emerging technologies such as grid modernization and battery storage will help us lower peak customer demand for electricity and deliver exactly what Michigan needs,' she said. 'Our plan is designed to respond to emerging needs, adapt to changing conditions and embrace emerging innovative technologies as we work to achieve net zero carbon emissions.' Key to that strategy are natural gas-fired plants in Consumers' portfolio, Van Kley said, which include locations in Zeeland, Jackson and a 1,200-megawatt facility that began operating in Van Buren County's Covert Township in June 2023. Those operations 'will supply reliable, on-demand electricity to meet Michigan's energy needs when renewables and other sources are not available,' Van Kley said. Meanwhile, efforts continue to restart operations at Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township. The facility, owned by New Jersey-based Holtec International, went offline for decommissioning in May 2022.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Michigan plant will remain available for future operations
(NewsNation) — The J.H. Campbell power plant in Michigan will remain open after a late emergency order from the Trump administration. Michigan Republican State Sen. Roger Victory joined 'The Hill' on Friday to discuss a string of scheduled coal plant closures in 2025, including the J.H. Campbell Power Plant, revealing he received a notice from the U.S. Department of Energy that the plant will now remain available. It was scheduled to be closed as early as June, but with the executive order, its imminent closure has been avoided. 'This is the first step in the process, but I'm glad that the Trump administration has listened to our concerns, especially for us in the Midwest,' Victory said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
