Consumers Energy Going Coal Free In Michigan

Consumers Energy announced that they would be abandoning coal burning for power much earlier than originally planned.

The original plan from Consumers Energy was to keep their coal burning power plants online through 2040. Now Michigan's energy giant has announced that they will stop using coal burning plants 15 years early. The final coal burning plan is now scheduled to shut down by 2025.

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Coal is still a very big part of Consumers energy plan for Michigan, but the push for 0 Carbon emissions has changed the plan. Now Consumers plans on relying on solar energy to fill the gap that will be created when the coal power plants are shut down. In a press release Consumers Energy President and CEO, Garrick Rochow talked about the move.

We are committed to being a force of change and good stewards of our environment, producing reliable, affordable energy for our customers while caring for our communities during this transition

Natural Gas will also play a big part in the transition away from Coal. Right now Consumers operates three major solar energy power plants in Michigan. There are plans for them to purchase more, along with three more natural gas power plants.

The change over is about more than just clean energy, it's about money. Consumers can save more than $600 Million over the next 20 years with the transition.

The age of coal, and the negative impacts it has on the environment are finally coming to an end. I don't care if you are climate change denier or not, there is only a limited amount of coal in the earth. There is no limit to how much sunshine we will get, so this is really a no brainer. Salute to Consumers for committing to the changes, and doing it earlier than planned.