Ports across the Great Lakes region are racing to slash their carbon emissions to comply with international climate targets. But the ships that dock at the region’s ports say they have largely been left out of government incentives to reduce the environmental impact of their operations. There is currently only one U.S. freighter on the Great Lakes that meets the Environmental Protection Agency’s highest marine engine standards. As shipping companies assess their options — which include switching to promising but unproven fuels and engine technologies — they say targeted federal funding would be a big help.
A Michigan electric utility announced plans last week to build a large battery storage facility at the site of a coal plant that ceased operations in 2022. DTE Energy began demolishing the Trenton Channel Power Plant earlier this year. The battery plant built in its place will have a capacity of 220 megawatts, or 880 megawatt-hours, and could become the biggest battery storage project in the Great Lakes region upon its scheduled completion in 2026. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said the plant would help the state meet its renewable energy goals.
Michigan has spent $1 billion so far to grow its electric vehicle and battery manufacturing capacity. Those investments have only resulted in about 200 jobs, an analysis by Bridge Michigan found. The state has promised a total of $2 billion since 2022 to five companies that — combined with $16 billion in private funding — was expected to ultimately provide 12,000 jobs. All of the projects are now behind schedule, and at least two will be smaller than originally planned, reducing their total combined job creation by roughly 1,500.
Energy generation and storage capacity are on the rise in the Great Lakes region. So is the number of data centers, thanks in part to the area’s relatively cool climate and its abundance of water. And the proliferation of data centers is pushing up demand for electricity across the Great Lakes states. Some utilities are using the projected demand growth to justify building new natural gas power plants, frustrating advocates of renewable energy, who say solar and wind combined with storage would be able to serve these new customers.
Biofuel refineries — many of which are located in the Upper Midwest — emit almost as much air pollution as traditional petroleum refineries, according to a new report by the Environmental Integrity Project. The report determined that biofuel refineries are responsible for 12.9 million pounds of air pollution per year, compared with 14.5 million pounds from petroleum refineries. Biofuel refineries also emit several times more formaldehyde, a carcinogen often used as a preservative, than petroleum refineries.
More energy news, in case you missed it:
- Some in Illinois say the state’s recently passed law regulating carbon pipelines and sequestration doesn’t go far enough to protect landowners.
- Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, said he will vote to overturn the Biden administration’s new emissions rules for coal and gas power plants.
- Local restrictions on renewable energy development are rising, especially in Ohio and Michigan, and approved projects are struggling to reach completion.
- Ohio electric utilities are failing to meet state reliability standards, with at least one regulated utility falling short in each of the last eight years.
- Researchers at the University of Michigan are developing a prototype that could one day capture energy from waves in Lake Michigan and use it to create electricity.
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
Energy News Roundup: Industry groups fight federal emissions rules they say will hurt region
Energy News Roundup: Federal money pours in to accelerate energy transition
Featured image: Freighter on the Great Lakes (Great Lakes Now Episode 1021)
