Karn Generating Plant

Dan E. Karn Generating Plant is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by CMS Energy near Essexville, Michigan. Pictured below are both the Karn and Weadock plants, both of which belong to CMS.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Consumers Energy Company
 * Parent Company: CMS Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 544 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 136 MW (1959), 136 MW (1959), 136 MW (1961), 136 MW (1961)
 * Location: 2742 North Weadock Hwy., Essexville, MI 48732
 * GPS Coordinates: 43.642089, -83.838188
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 4,261,230 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 18,410 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 4,141 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 249 lb.

Coal waste Sites

 * Karn Generating Plant Bottom Ash Pond
 * Karn Generating Plant Pond A

Consumers Energy cancels Karn/Weadock expansion and announces retirement of two units at Karn/Weadock complex
On December 2, 2011, Consumers Energy announced that is was cancelling the proposed 800 megawatt Karn/Weadock Generating Complex Expansion because of "reduced customer demand for electricity due to the recession and slow economic recovery, surplus generating capacity in the Midwest market, and lower natural gas prices linked to expanded shale gas supplies." In addition, the company announced that it was suspending operations by the end of 2014 at seven existing generating units, included two units at the Whiting Generating Plant, two units at the Cobb Generating Plant, and two at the Karn Weadock Generating Complex. The company reported that it began construction in November 2011 of its first wind farm, the 100 MW Lake Winds Energy Park, in Mason County. Consumers Energy is also developing the 150 MW Cross Winds Energy Park in Tuscola County.

Karn and Weadock Generating Plants ranked 33nd on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of coal combustion waste (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill. The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.

Together Karn and Weadock Generating Plants ranked 33rd on the list, with 1,171,382 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Michigan and coal
 * CMS Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming
 * Weadock Generating Plant
 * Karn/Weadock Generating Complex Expansion