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By Jason Hayes
On May 20, 2021, the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, a vital component of Michigan’s safe and reliable energy infrastructure, was taken offline despite having almost a decade remaining on its approved operating license. That action removed over 7 million megawatt-hours —15% of the state’s emissions-free electricity supply and more electricity production than all the state’s wind and solar had generated in 2021 — from Michigan’s energy supply.
Entergy, the plant’s owner/operator, and Consumers Energy had planned this closure since 2016. But it wasn’t until the final moments of the plant’s life that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer suddenly decided keeping it open was important. Gov. Whitmer’s late-to-the-game support grabbed headlines but was ineffective at stopping the plant’s closure because nuclear permitting decisions are made over years or even decades, not days.
The Mackinac Center has consistently pushed back against misguided state and federal energy policies that disrupt regional electricity markets by mandating and heavily subsidizing unreliable forms of electricity generation. We argue that government should stop handing out any energy subsidies. In The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and USA Today, as well as on radio and podcasts, we have explained how government boosterism for unreliable wind and solar makes it difficult for reliable energy sources, like nuclear, to remain economically viable.
We have highlighted the dangers posed by net zero policies and warnings from grid operators like the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. Energy experts in these organizations explain how a rushed transition to wind and solar harms the nation’s electric grid’s reliability and increases the threat of blackouts.
We have also shown how Gov. Whitmer’s enthusiasm for nuclear power, as expressed in her Johnny-come- lately support for the Palisades Plant, demonstrates the contradictions of her net zero climate agenda. Her policies — the MI Healthy Climate Plan — require the state to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. But state and federal policies that mandate and subsidize ever more wind and solar drive nuclear plants out of business, even though they promise rock-solid reliability and zero emissions.
Rather than stopping harmful mandates and subsidies, state and federal officials like Gov. Whitmer and President Biden attempt to mitigate the damage their policies cause by ladling on even more subsidies and loans. A recent decisionfrom the Department of Energy commits to a $1.5 billion loan to aid in restarting Palisades.
Michigan’s experience demonstrates that political maneuvers, mandates and subsidies lead to energy policies that threaten the health and well-being of Michiganders. Reopening the Palisades Nuclear Plant is a crucial step to maintaining energy reliability. It will lessen the damage caused by destructive government subsidies and mandates for wind and solar. But the means of achieving this correction fail basic free-market principles. The market-distorting subsidies and mandates at the root of the problem must be repealed.
