Mich. DEQ Approves Air Permit for Consumers’ 830-MW Coal-Fired Plant

Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on Tuesday approved an air permit for an 830-MW coal-fired power plant in Hampton Township—with the condition that its proposer, Consumers Energy, will retire up to 958 MW of coal-fired generating capacity from seven of the company’s oldest existing coal plants in the state.

The permit’s conditions also call for the coal plant planned at the Karn/Weadock complex near Bay City to use scrubber and hydrated lime injection control for sulfur dioxide, acid gases, and other air pollutants. Additionally, it would require baghouse control for particulate and hazardous air pollutants, carbon injection for mercury control, and selective catalytic sequestration technology for nitrogen oxide control.

Finally, as the DEQ said in a statement on Tuesday, the $2 billion-plus plant will be designed to be “ready to employ carbon capture and sequestration technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions once that technology becomes commercially feasible.” The plant is expected to enter service in 2017.

Consumers Energy said it has been working with Western Michigan University scientists to evaluate the suitability of the geology surrounding the plant site to store carbon dioxide. Preliminary analysis indicates that the geology surrounding the plant site “looks promising” for carbon sequestration, the company said.

Tuesday’s decision followed a period of “extensive review” of Consumers Energy’s application, supporting information, and public comment, the DEQ said. The state agency also released a response to comments document, which provides its responses to comments received during the public comment period of the permitting process and at the public hearing.

The company must still apply to the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) for a certificate of necessity—which it plans to do next year—before construction can begin, as expected, in 2012.

Consumers Energy, a unit of Jackson, Michigan–based CMS Energy Corp., has the oldest fleet of coal plants in the nation with an average age of 50 years. The company said that it would retire up to seven of its older, less-efficient coal units after the new unit begins operating. Five would be retired when the new plant enters service and another two depending the needs of its 1.8 million Michigan customers.

“The issuance of the air permit for our new clean coal plant is good news for Michigan. This permit moves our project a step closer to creating badly needed jobs and boosting the state’s economy,” said John Russell, Consumers Energy’s president and chief operating officer.

“It also provides best-in-class protection for the environment with an offset for carbon dioxide emissions from the new plant and a substantial net reduction in overall emissions from our coal-fired generating fleet. It also will allow us to fully implement our balanced energy plan and provide customers with reliable, competitively priced electricity in the future.”

According to Russell, the company’s “Balanced Energy Initiative”—which includes eventual retirements of existing plants and expanded renewable energy and energy efficiency—is expected, by 2018, to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 91%, nitrogen oxide emissions by 83%, and mercury emissions by 81% from current levels from the company’s existing coal fleet.

Michigan is currently home to 19 coal-fired plants, which produce about 60% of the state’s electricity, according to the Energy Information Administration. Most of the coal it uses is shipped in from Wyoming and Montana.

The DEQ’s issuance of an air permit for Consumer Energy’s major coal plant flies in the face of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s request earlier this year that the state environmental agency evaluate, along with the PSC, “feasible and prudent alternatives” before giving coal-fired power plants in Michigan the green light.

In September, the Michigan PSC released a report suggesting that the state would not need a new coal plant until at least 2022, owing to energy efficiency initiatives and increased use of renewable energy sources. That report had specifically recommended that Consumers Energy delay the planned coal-fired plant near Bay City until 2022.

Sources: Michigan DEQ, Consumers energy, EIA, POWERnews