What's Missing From Consumers Energy's Announcement?

The Detroit News: Consumers Energy plan calls for more than doubling capacity by 2040

Consumers Energy says it will more than double its system capacity by 2040 by using an “all-of-the-above” mix of natural gas, solar, wind, pumped and battery storage as part of a long-term supply proposal.  

Energy matters.  America's economy, businesses, and consumers all depend on available, reliable, and (relatively) inexpensive energy.

And we as a country have been deliberately negligent in maintaining that available, reliable, and (relatively) inexpensive energy - whether going for the Greenies with their no building of power plants whether coal or nuclear at all, to the Green New Deal with its demand of having unreliable solar and wind to replace reliable baseline power.

That Consumers is announcing they will double production capacity is welcome news, especially as all coal plants in Michigan have been set to close by 2032 and we're down to two nuclear plants from five and energy demand has not decreased.

In short, there's not going to be much in the way of reliable baseline production aside from some natural gas plants.  

Certainly that will be badly needed, as there's been scant increase in reliable production capacity. But notice that nuclear is missing from the  “all-of-the-above” mix.

Nuclear provides excellent baseline power and is reliable and yes, safe, and verily non-polluting and not even making those greenhouse gases the Greenies fret about, so long as you don't put communists in charge of it. 

A pity Consumers isn't leading the way with the new SMR reactors or even the large safe reactor designs. 

Michigan Democrats Demand Vehicle Electrification While Demanding Electricity Generation Reduction At The Same Time

On the one hand, we have Democrats pushing for the total electrification of vehicles which means a much higher demand for electricity.

NPR: Whitmer signs orders to help automakers in shift to “mobility” business

The Detroit News: Biden makes electric pitch at Ford plant: 'There's no turning back'

On the other hand, we have Democrats pushing for the closure of power plants that produce electricity without building sufficient replacement reliable baseline power.

Fox 2: DTE officially closing River Rouge Power Plant Friday

That's 840 megawatts of reliable power to Michigan being dropped without a reliable replacement at the behest of the Michigan Public Service Commission and advocacy groups.

So, where's the additional electricity to power all these electric vehicles going to come from, not to mention to satisfy the existing demand for power?

After all, we're now being told electricity will increase 50% in peak hours this summer, meaning during from 2pm to 7pm due to increased demand in the summer months - without all these new electric vehicles demanding power at that time.

The Detroit News: Consumers Energy electricity rate increases 50% during peak hours

Note the reason for the increase:

The higher cost during certain times of the day is a part of a greater trend in the energy industry seeking to reduce power generation as it pivots to relying on greener and renewable resources by providing a financial incentive to ratepayers to not use the dishwasher, do laundry or vacuum when energy demand is at its highest.

So there's a goal of reduced generation of power being sought  (with the goal to totally eliminate reliable coal powered plants that create rather inexpensive electricity by both  Consumers Energy and DTE) and replace it with far less reliable wind and solar.  Then, at the very same time mandate a highly increased demand for power for the electrification of vehicles at the same time by the same people.

What could possibly go wrong? 

Thankfully, No Earth Shattering Kaboom

So this morning I was working from home and I got a knock on the door.

It was Consumers Energy, letting me know that there was a gas leak right in my front yard.

It seems they were driving through the neighborhood doing a survey and it detected gas leaking.

Of course, it had to be on the lawn right where there are a bunch of large rocks decoratively piled and right under a Michigan white pine sapling that Leah brought home from school last year and we had planted in that otherwise bare space.

The gas leak explains why Leah's tree is having some issues with browning leaves and such.

So, they immediately got to work excavating a hole to get to the leak.

It became quite a large hole indeed.

They then found the leak almost immediately in the copper pipe leading to the house, right at the main. It made quite the whooshing noise when they found it. They then capped off the main and then pressure tested the remainder of the copper pipe leading to the house. No further leaks were found but they're going to replace the copper service pipe with a plastic one all thw way to the house soon so more digging will occur in the future. It was also clearly safe once one of the service guys had a smoke break right by the hole.

Here's the site of the leak and the remainder of the copper service pipe being tested.

A welder then arrived and they welded the connection back to the main. They then filled in the hole and finished up. Final leak testing comes later along with turning the gas back on, probably later this evening.

Very efficiently done, and the Consumer's Energy guys were nice people. It was pretty cool watching them skillfully do the excavation and repair work.

They're also going to cover the bare earth back up and move the rocks back into position once the final clean-up crew is available.

An interesting diversion and another reminder that it is always something.