Northern Indiana Public Service Co. recently announced plans to accelerate the retirement of its remaining coal-fired generating facilities and replace them with less costly renewable energy sources, a move that could result in up to $2 billion in savings.
The Merrillville-based utility company said it’s looking at wind, solar and battery storage technology as likely replacements as part of its electric generation strategy.
While stating that plans aren’t yet finalized, the company announced that it would retire the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station (Units 14, 15, 17 and 18) in Wheatfield by 2023 and its Michigan City Generating Station (Unit 12) by 2028.
It also plans to retire all coal within the next 10 years.
"This creates a vision for the future that is better for our customers and it's consistent with our goal to transition to the best cost, cleanest electric supply mix available while maintaining reliability, diversity and flexibility for technology and market changes," Violet Sistovaris, NiSource Executive Vice President and NIPSCO president, said.
But Merrillville attorney and environmentalist John Halstead said much more drastic and rapid change is needed to improve the environment than what NIPSCO is planning.
“It’s a good step, but in terms of the problem (climate change), it’s insignificant,” Halstead said.
In August, the Trump administration proposed a major rollback in Obama-era restrictions on climate-changing emissions from coal-fired power plants. The plan gives the states more discretion in choosing how to regulate pollution from the plants.
NIPSCO spokesman Nick Meyer said a significant driver behind the plan is that it would provide lower cost options for customers.
“The analysis indicates the scenario we’ve utilized would be $1.2 billion to $2 billion less than the path we are currently following when you consider the lower fuel costs, operating costs, etc.,” Meyer said.
The company said retiring the approximate 1,800 megawatts of coal-fired generation also would significantly accelerate carbon reductions across NIPSCO’s footprint and would result in further reductions in both timing and magnitude beyond previously announced targets.
Meyer said it hasn’t yet been decided whether the two coal-fired generating facilities would be torn down, and if so, what would be located on those sites.
Asked how many jobs could be lost as a result of the facilities’ closures, Meyer said it’s still early in the process.
“The goal is to minimize the effect on employees. A variety of strategies will be discussed,” Meyer said.
NIPSCO said its existing natural gas-fired Sugar Creek Generating Station in West Terre Haute, and the Norway and Oakdale Hydroelectric Dams along the Tippecanoe River would continue.
The company said it will continue to solicit input from stakeholders and regulators in formulating its final plan, which it plans to submit to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission by Nov. 1.
Combined with a planned rollback of car-mileage standards, the Trump plan represents a significant retreat from Obama-era efforts to fight climate change and would reverse an Obama-era push to shift away from coal and toward less-polluting energy sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power.
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