The Sierra Club said almost all of Indiana’s investor-owned electric utilities are "backsliding" on the transition to cleaner energy. That’s according to the group’s annual report that tracks climate commitments.
The Sierra Club said data centers with big energy needs — and Gov. Mike Braun’s focus on keeping coal plants open — are largely responsible for the changes.
The report looked at where utilities stood in efforts to close their coal plants by 2030, add no new natural gas and be powered by clean energy alone by 2035. Though the report doesn't specifically define "clean energy" — it mentions wind, solar and battery storage.
The score for CenterPoint Energy in southwest Indiana dropped the most. It went from a B to a D. The utility’s unfinished 20-year plan calls for keeping coal plants open past 2030 — at least seven years later than originally planned.
Indiana Michigan Power up north dropped one letter grade to a C. Its parent company, AEP, asked Indiana customers to pay for coal plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation, even though Michigan and Ohio pulled back some of their funding.
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Northern Indiana utility NIPSCO also went down one letter to a B for plans to add a small natural gas plant. That grade came out before the public knew about NIPSCO plans for another, much larger gas plant. If built, it would put out the third most greenhouse gas emissions of any large industrial facility in the state.
AES Indiana and Duke Energy’s scores stayed the same with a B and an F respectively. Hoosier Energy — the only Indiana generation and transmission cooperative listed in the report — also received an F.
Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or on Signal at IPBenvironment.01. Follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.