I recently received this email:
Hi,
I’m writing as a concerned Michigander that would love to see the Campbell power plant located in my home county of Ottawa be put to work supplying energy for new technologies.
We would love to help keep it online and see it serving A.I. and blockchain data centers along with local residents. In doing so this would drive the cost of energy down for residents due to these industries offsetting costs and blockchain technologies being able to shut down at a moments notice to supply power when and where it’s needed most.
We’d love to have these ideas put forth as an alternative to shutting the plant down as there is great demand for affordable power in Michigan. Unfortunately, shutting power plants down goes against economic growth and the ability for Michigan to bring high tech and high paying jobs especially at this time when energy is needed most.
Thank you for your time,
Xxx
My response was as follows:
“That has been my vision for the Campbell as well. I have believed that the Campbell can become an economic gold mine for Ottawa County. Of course, our immediate objective must be delay of its closure by Consumers Energy. I look forward to discussing this vision with you.”
Ottawa County has the two main things necessary to become a center for the new data computing economy:
- Electric generation from the Campbell coal complex and its gas plants
- Water (Lake Michigan)
This is on top of the excellent pool of skilled workers in Ottawa County.
Furthermore, the coal by-products from the Campbell can supply rare earth minerals for battery production in the new economy. We even have nearby un-utilized coal deposits as described at https://project.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/coal.html#:~:text=It%20is%20estimated%20that%20the,mined%20with%20the%20present%20technology.&text=The%20last%20deep%20coal%20mine%20in%20Michigan%20closed%20in%201952: “Today, over 300 million tons of coal remain beneath the Lower Peninsula. An open-pit mine operated briefly in Ingham County in the mid-1970s, and in the early 1980s mining operations leased thousands of acres of former coal mines in anticipation of strip mining coal left behind by earlier operations. But the drop in coal prices halted production before it began, and thus, current production of coal in Michigan is essentially nil.”
We can do this in an environmentally responsible way that becomes the worldwide model. We can and should invest in premier anti-polluting equipment. The over $1 billion invested in anti-polluting equipment in the Campbell in the last decade served as a good start, but we need to do lots more. The need for electric in the new economy can justify and pay for it.