The U.S. Department of Energy has reupped a coal-fired power plant in Michigan for another 90-day operations period, preventing its planned retirement for a third time.

The J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan has racked up $80 million in net costs since late May to stay online per emergency orders from the Department of Energy.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said his department is working with utilities around the country to keep more coal plants slated for retirement open to help meet rising demand from data centers and other new large loads.

The tone of Infocast’s 2025 Midcontinent Energy Summit was noticeably apprehensive compared with last year, owing to political and regulatory uncertainty, load growth ambiguity, fluctuating tariffs and a pending complaint against MISO’s long-range transmission plan.

FERC said MISO should spread the costs of keeping a Michigan coal plant running past its retirement date over the RTO’s entire Midwest region.

A Grid Strategies report concludes that if the Department of Energy continues to supersede retirement decisions for fossil-fueled power plants, it could cost consumers an extra $3 billion annually in a little more than three years.

The Michigan coal plant kept online by an emergency order from the U.S. Department of Energy cost $29 million to run in a little over a month.

After DOE ignored their rehearing requests, opponents of its Federal Power Act order keeping the J.H. Campbell plant have appealed the issue to the courts.

Half of the Organization of MISO States have challenged the Department of Energy’s directive to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan operating through late August.