Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) serves 129,000 Michigan customers in the southwestern part of the state, although most of its nearly 600,000 customers are in Indiana.
The integrated resource plan (I&M) is intended to be a document that assesses various options to cost-effectively serve the electricity needs of customers over the next 20 years.
This case was settled in September 2020. I&M agreed to withdraw the IRP and refile a new plan in December 2021. The settlement “gives the utility more time to determine its preferred course of action and address matters including the lease of its Rockford Unit 2 coal power plant located in Indiana,” the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) said in a press release. Read below for the concerns about the Rockport plant expressed by groups that participated in the settlement.
Indiana Michigan Power, U-20591
Highlights of this plan include:
- I&M’s preferred plan (the set of options that the utility believes is most reasonable to implement) projects building 2,700 megawatts of capacity from natural gas-fired power plants in stages over several years to replace the loss of three of I&M’s biggest sources of energy. The 770-megawatt unit 1 at the Rockport coal-fired plant retires in 2028. Then, the two reactors at the D.C. Cook nuclear plant, I&M’s single-biggest power plant, hit the end of their federal licenses in 2034 and 2037 respectively.
- Another coal-fired unit could close. I&M’s lease for Unit 2 at Rockport runs out at the end of 2022. I&M assumes that the plant will be available through May 2023, but after that, the IRP proposes using short-term market purchases of electricity to replace Rockport Unit 2. I&M notes, however, that this scenario is for planning purposes and a final decision about Rockport Unit 2 has not been made.
- Starting in 2022 I&M would start developing 3,600 megawatts of wind farms and utility-scale solar arrays. I&M currently owns 450 megawatts of wind capacity and just 14.7 megawatts of solar.
- The IRP proposes 50 megawatts of batteries to store energy and 54 megawatts of “micro- or mini-grid resources” by 2028.
- I&M’s preferred plan does not propose additional energy efficiency efforts to cut customer demand on top of existing efforts until 2033.