This year has obviously been an incredibly challenging year, with thecoronavirus pandemic,job losses, and a long-overdue reckoning withsystemic racism in the United States, and at UCS. Through it all, though, there were some signs of progress related to clean energy in the Midwest. My colleagueJames Gignacand I want to highlight some clean energy wins that have pushed clean energy forward in the region.
Illinois moves away from coal, strengthens solar
In September,Vistra announced plans to retire all of their coal plants in Illinois(five total). The Edwards Power Plant is scheduled to close by the end of 2022, the Baldwin and Joppa plants by 2025 or earlier, and the Kincaid and Newton plants will close by 2027 or earlier. While that’s welcome news, it’s critical that theClean Energy Jobs Actpasses in 2021 to support ajust transition for coal plant workers and coal communities.
Earlier this month, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC)ordered Ameren Illinoisto restore full retail net metering for new customers. In OctoberAmeren Illinois claimed it had met 5% distributed solar generationwhich, under state law, allows the utility to end credits for new customers.Clean energy advocates fought backon Ameren’s flawed calculations and won. This decision will enable continued solar growth in central and southern Illinois and protect solar jobs.
Michigan sets an ambitious goal, MPSC supports clean energy
In September, Governor Gretchen Whitmerannouncedan ambitious new goal for Michigan to achieve economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. Looking ahead to 2021, the state’s Council on Climate Solutions will begin its advisory work on creating an action plan for the state to achieve the goal in various sectors including electricity, and transportation.
Earlier in 2020, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approvedrevisionsto DTE Energy’s integrated resource plan (IRP) to reduce the potential for additional risky gas-fired power plants and to include greater amounts of energy efficiency and other clean energy resources. The next step for electric utilities in Michigan is to incorporate the state’s carbon neutrality goal into their planning, which the MPSC and stakeholders are currentlyworking onas part of the MPSC’s ongoing MI Power Grid initiative.
Minnesota continues the transition away from coal to clean energy
Whileclean energy legislation不幸的是没有前进在明尼苏达州2020, the good news is that utilities in the state continued to reduce their reliance on increasingly expensive and polluting coal-fired power plants. In May, the electric cooperative Great River Energy announced that it will be retiring the massive Coal Creek plant in North Dakota by 2023 and188bet asia appwith a large expansion in wind power without any risky investments in new gas plants.
Meanwhile, Xcel Energy’s pendingintegrated resource plancontinues to focus on expanding solar and other clean energy resources while phasing out the last of its Minnesota coal plants by 2030. The company alsoadvanced a planto save customers millions of dollars and reduce pollution emissions by switching remaining coal units tooperate on a seasonal basisuntil their retirement.
Looking Forward to 2021
推进清洁能源在这个挑战year has been important, but we need to ensure 2021 brings considerably more progress.
Continued and ambitious clean energy action in the Midwest is going to be critical to combat climate change and secure the public health, economic, and social equity gains that result from moving away from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Midwest states must continue their leadership and progress on climate and clean energy policies in 2021. We’re committed to working with UCS supporters and allies to make sure that progress accelerates.