State regulators approve plan to close Port Sheldon power plant in 2025
LANSING — On Thursday state regulators approved electric utility Consumers Energy's plan to shutter the J.H. Campbell coal plant in 2025, 15 years ahead of schedule.
The early closure of the Port Sheldon power plant is one of a number of updates to the utility's 2019 Clean Energy Plan, a 20-year plan to transition away from fossil fuel-derived energy.
The Campbell coal plant closure will mark the end of Consumers Energy's use of coal to generate electricity. Two coal units at the utility's D.E. Karn coal plant are scheduled to be taken offline in 2023.
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“This is a historic moment in Michigan’s clean energy transformation journey,” said Garrick Rochow, President and CEO of Consumers Energy. “The Clean Energy Plan is a sea change that positions our company as a national leader and empowers us to deliver reliable energy while protecting the planet for decades to come.”
The plant in Port Sheldon Township employs about 300 workers. Consumers has said it will seek to help those employees find other jobs within the company, and the company plans to "support" the township and county as they plan for the effects of the closure.
Consumers Energy is Port Sheldon Township and Grand Haven Area Public Schools' largest taxpayer, with the Campbell plant accounting for nearly 30 percent of Port Sheldon Township's tax base.
Ottawa County has assembled a J.H. Campbell Generating Plant Closure Planning Committee, consisting of representatives from the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, Lakeshore Advantage, Port Sheldon Township, Grand Haven Area Chamber of Commerce, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, Ottawa County Parks and Recreation and the Ottawa County Department of Strategic Impact.
The 2,000 acre property, with frontage on Lake Michigan and Pigeon Lake, "creates tremendous opportunity," said DSI Director Paul Sachs, "but we also need to be very thoughtful and smart about what we want to do with that site."
The plant is expected to require about three years of decommissioning work before it can be razed in 2028.
Once a future land use study is complete the committee will begin meeting more frequently, Sachs said, to develop ideas and solicit public engagement and input in the planning process.
Consumers Energy is also Ottawa County's largest taxpayer, accounting for both the Campbell power plant and the 930-megawatt Zeeland Generating Station, a natural gas power plant.
To replace the capacity of the Campbell and Karn plants, Consumers Energy will purchase the natural gas-fired Covert Generating Station in Van Buren County, and the company plans to purchase another 700 MW of capacity — roughly the equivalent of a power plant — through a one-time request for proposals.
Long-term, the company has said it will make major investments in solar power, with a promise to add nearly 8,000 MW by 2040, and investments in battery energy storage, with a plan for 75 MW by 2027 and 550 MW by 2040.
The Campbell plant has three units: Unit 1 has been in operation since 1962, Unit 2 since 1967 and the largest unit, Unit 3, since 1980. Unit 3 had been scheduled to retire in 2040.
Holland Board of Public Works has a lifetime contract for 11 MW of power from Unit 3 through the Michigan Public Power Association, which facilitates group power purchases for municipal utilities.
— Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: State regulators approve plan to close Port Sheldon power plant in 2025
