Power Plants to Parklands transforms retired coal-fired power plants in Michigan into community solace, wildlife and solar centers

There are currently more than 200 coal-fired power plants in operation in the United States, but the country has been reducing production since peak coal production in 2011. By the end of 2026, the United States is expected to retire half of its coal-fired power plants.

Coal-fired power plants emit toxic pollutants into the air, water and soil, leaving behind pollutants that must be removed when they are decommissioned.

But what happens to coal-fired power plants after they close?

The Michigan Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) sees retiring coal plants – once seen as industrial scars on the landscape – as “a canvass for creating new greenways, parks, wildlife habitats and clean energy development,” says an ELPC press release .

“If you look around Michigan and many other states in the Great Lakes region, you will see that there are a large number of coal-fired power plants on the shores of the Lakes. And lakefront property is, of course, valuable. If you look at it as the location of a coal-fired power plant – that’s how most of us are used to looking at a power plant, where the coal-fired power plant has been operating for 40, 50 or 60 years – sometimes it’s easy to forget that these locations are often right along the shore of a lake or along a river , and in some cases next to a state or international wildlife refuge,” Howard Learner, president and executive director of ELPC, told EcoWatch.

Between 2010 and 2019, 290 coal-fired power plants with capacity over 100 gigawatts (GW) closed across the United States

“After the closure of coal-fired power plants, each of them begins a multi-year decommissioning process, including decommissioning, recultivation and reconstruction,” reads the press release.

A major Michigan utility, Consumers Energy, plans to retire two of its remaining coal-fired power plants by 2025, 15 years ahead of schedule. Their closure creates a unique opportunity to reuse the industrial brownfields they leave behind as centers for renewable energy, social cooperation and ecological comfort.

“About 10 years ago, we started identifying where in the Midwest there were coal-fired power plants that we thought might close in the relatively near future, either because they were very old and using old technology that was being pushed out of the market, or because economic considerations led to ​​plant closure, or other factors. On our energy expert’s side, we compiled a list of plants that seemed like candidates for retirement within the next decade. We then discussed this from a natural resources perspective – not from an energy perspective – but where they are and what added value in terms of outdoor recreational use, public use beaches and access to them, wildlife habitats and conservation goals can be achieved in some from these locations,” Learner told EcoWatch.

Through its new Power Plants to Parklands (P2P) initiative, ELPC plans to rethink part of the redevelopment of the wasteland-to-sanctuary transition.

“Historically, coal-fired power plants were located on lakes and rivers because their cooling systems depended on water. As a result, these facilities often occupy waterfront locations, making them ideal for public use. However, decommissioned coal-fired power plants are too often treated as a blight on communities. Many of them are fenced off from the public, as inaccessible as prisons,” we read in the press release.

Retired coal plants, because they are already connected to the grid, have the infrastructure necessary to re-develop clean energy.

“All these coal-fired power plants are, of course, permanently connected to the electricity grid. They have coal plants that generate electricity, so they have transmission lines and no one has to fight the battles of whether a certain community likes transmission lines or opposes them, or some of the battles that come up over energy storage or solar projects.” Learner said. .

ELPC works with Michigan communities as well as a variety of stakeholders – including environmental groups, city governments, businesses and utilities – to convert former coal-fired power plants into parks where community support exists and it is ecologically and financially feasible.

“It is like transforming an old train station into a more modern transport hub,” ELPC said. “Because transmission lines are already in place, these plants avoid the red tape that can stifle the rollout of new clean energy facilities. Additionally, these new clean energy plants offer an opportunity to reinvest in communities previously supported by aging coal-fired power plants.”

ELPC is currently focusing on locations in Michigan where coal-fired power plants are closed or are expected to close within the next three years.

One example is the Daniel E. Karn Power Plant. The plant, owned by Consumers Energy, will be rebuilt to provide more than 85 MW of solar energy, enough to power about 20,000 homes.

“Just think about it. If a high-voltage transmission line runs to the Daniel E. Karn coal plant – which is located in Essexville, Michigan on Saginaw Bay – and the coal plant has been shut down, that’s a great place to grow, as Consumers Energy produces almost 100 megawatts of solar energy because it is hard-wired to the transmission grid,” Learner told EcoWatch.

Two units at Karn have been decommissioned and two more will continue to produce oil and natural gas during periods of peak demand, if needed, until 2031.

“They’re closing coal plants,” Learner said. “But too often what happens is that a coal-fired power plant closes down, the utility company puts a fence around it, hires a few security guards, and it sits there. Let’s hope that the toxic materials will be cleaned up, maybe not, and besides, it’s an old post-industrial area, it’s a waste of sight. This is the default setting. This is an opportunity to create real value for the future.”

ELPC works with the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy to begin planning the decommissioning site, engaging community members to find out what they would like to see most before developing a draft conservation plan.

“An example of ecological importance is the Karn Power Plant located on Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron, a critical area for migratory birds. The bay and surrounding wetlands provide essential habitat for more than 1,000 species, making it an essential stop on the Central Flyway of North America,” ELPC said.

Two other projects ELPC is currently working on are the Trenton Channel power plant – a 220 MW energy storage facility owned by DTE Energy – and the JH Campbell coal plant.

“The Trenton Channel coal-fired power plant, located approximately 20 miles south of Detroit, is immediately adjacent to the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge. The Campbell coal-fired power plant located in West Olive, Michigan, is located along the Lake Michigan shoreline and Pigeon River corridor. These are all plants that have significant value and potential in parks, potential for use in outdoor recreation and potential for wildlife habitat conservation,” Learner told EcoWatch.

Another benefit of reusing retiring coal-fired power plants is that it helps sustain and may increase local tax revenues lost as coal-fired power plants are retired.

“Consumers Energy wants to build the nation’s largest battery energy storage facility at the Campbell coal plant. This will be large property tax revenues. The Karn coal-fired power plant installed 85 megawatts of solar power. For comparison, this is approximately 250,000 solar panels. Again, it will be property tax revenue,” Learner said.

The P2P initiative envisions repurposed sites as public green spaces where residents can enjoy a “sense of place” and connect with the healing power of nature untainted by the destructive impacts of fossil fuels.

“As the curtain comes down on the era of coal-fired power plants in Michigan and the U.S., ELPC’s Power Plants to Parklands project is not just about repurposing decommissioned coal-fired power plant sites; offers utilities, stakeholders and communities the opportunity to work together to shape a more sustainable and prosperous future for the region,” ELPC said. “ELPC’s P2P initiative aspires to be a model for the nation – a blueprint for communities dealing with the closure of coal-fired power plants.”