Brownfield & Retired Power Plant Sites in Michigan
54 catalogued brownfield and retired-generation sites in Michigan, listed by former capacity. Each carries an existing utility-scale grid interconnection that a new datacenter load may be able to re-use.
At a glance
What kinds of former sites are in Michigan?
By former use, the list includes 21 natural gas, 15 coal, 11 oil, 2 hydroelectric, 2 landfill, 1 biomass and 2 other categories. Recorded retirement dates run from December 1995 to June 2024, with 34 retirements in 2015 or later. 50 of 53 sites with a measured distance sit within 2 miles of a transmission substation.
How does Michigan compare with other states?
Michigan ranks 11th of 50 states and DC by number of brownfield and retired-generation sites, out of 2,085 nationally. By recorded capacity (8,263 MW) it ranks 10th, against 289,280 MW across all states. The state also has 5,157 scored datacenter candidate sites, 21 of them classed as brownfield sites, averaging 55.3 on the 0–100 DC Readiness scale.
Where in Michigan are these sites?
- Wayne County · 6
- Ottawa County · 4
- St Clair County · 3
- Marquette County · 3
- Washtenaw County · 3
- Bay County · 2
- Huron County · 2
- Calhoun County · 2
- Muskegon County · 1
- Ingham County · 1
- Monroe County · 1
- Manistee County · 1
- Genesee County · 1
- Eaton County · 1
- Otsego County · 1
- Wexford County · 1
- Oakland County · 1
- Kalamazoo County · 1
- Osceola County · 1
- Allegan County · 1
- Houghton County · 1
- Emmet County · 1
- Hillsdale County · 1
- Macomb County · 1
All brownfield and retired plant sites in Michigan
| Site | Former use | Capacity | Retired | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Clair | coal | 1,910 MW | 2024-06-01 | St Clair |
| River Rouge | coal | 944 MW | 2024-01-01 | Wayne |
| Trenton Channel | coal | 776 MW | 2022-12-01 | Wayne |
| Presque Isle | coal | 625 MW | 2019-03-01 | Marquette |
| Dan E Karn | coal | 544 MW | 2023-05-01 | Bay |
| B C Cobb | coal | 520 MW | 2016-04-01 | Muskegon |
| Eckert Station | coal | 375 MW | 2021-05-01 | Ingham |
| J R Whiting | coal | 364 MW | 2016-04-01 | Monroe |
| J C Weadock | coal | 331 MW | 2016-04-01 | Bay |
| Conners Creek | gas | 275 MW | 2013-03-01 | Wayne |
| TES Filer City Station | gas | 253 MW | — | Manistee |
| Thetford | gas | 222 MW | 2018-11-01 | Genesee |
| Marysville | coal | 200 MW | 2011-12-01 | St Clair |
| Erickson Station | coal | 155 MW | 2022-11-01 | Eaton |
| Harbor Beach | coal | 125 MW | 2013-11-01 | Huron |
| Gaylord - Consumers | gas | 80 MW | 2018-11-01 | Otsego |
| Shiras | coal | 78 MW | 2019-04-01 | Marquette |
| James De Young | coal | 63 MW | 2017-06-01 | Ottawa |
| Cadillac Renewable Energy | biomass | 44 MW | 2020-02-01 | Wexford |
| Hancock | gas | 39 MW | 2019-12-01 | Oakland |
| B E Morrow | gas | 36 MW | 2014-03-01 | Kalamazoo |
| George Johnson | gas | 31 MW | 2005-10-01 | Osceola |
| Wyandotte | gas | 30 MW | 2016-05-01 | Wayne |
| Claude Vandyke | gas | 27 MW | 2019-06-01 | Allegan |
| Sixth Street Gas Turbine | oil | 24 MW | 2023-05-01 | Ottawa |
| Portage | oil | 23 MW | 2021-11-01 | Houghton |
| Straits | gas | 20 MW | 2018-11-01 | Emmet |
| J H Campbell | oil | 19 MW | 2018-11-01 | Ottawa |
| Hillsdale | oil | 17 MW | 2018-06-01 | Hillsdale |
| Northeast (MI) | gas | 16 MW | 2023-05-01 | Macomb |
| Slocum | oil | 14 MW | 2023-11-01 | Wayne |
| Dayton (MI) | oil | 10 MW | 2013-11-01 | Wayne |
| Decorative Panels Intl | gas | 8 MW | 2024-02-01 | Alpena |
| Pine Street | gas | 7 MW | 2018-03-01 | Huron |
| Twin Falls (MI) | hydro | 6 MW | 2016-07-01 | Dickinson |
| Dafter | oil | 6 MW | 2021-12-01 | Chippewa |
| Vestaburg | oil | 6 MW | 2017-06-01 | Montcalm |
| GRS Lyon | gas | 5 MW | 2010-12-01 | Washtenaw |
| Wood Road | gas | 5 MW | 2021-09-01 | Clinton |
| Scottville | oil | 4 MW | 2002-01-01 | Mason |
| Sturgis City Diesel Plant | oil | 4 MW | 2008-03-01 | St Joseph |
| University of Michigan | gas | 4 MW | 2002-12-01 | Washtenaw |
| Tower | oil | 4 MW | 2010-10-01 | Cheboygan |
| Lowell | gas | 4 MW | 2012-11-01 | Kent |
| East. Michigan Univ. Heating Plant | gas | 4 MW | 2016-04-01 | Washtenaw |
| Autumn Hills Generating Facility | gas | 3 MW | 2024-05-01 | Ottawa |
| Marshall (MI) | gas | 2 MW | 2015-05-01 | Calhoun |
| Coldwater Board of Public Utilities Solar Field Park | brownfield | 1 MW | — | — |
| Cargill Salt | coal | 1 MW | 2002-01-01 | St Clair |
| Hoist | hydro | 1 MW | 2006-09-01 | Marquette |
| Battle Creek Mill | gas | 1 MW | 1995-12-01 | Calhoun |
| Eaton Rapids Landfill | landfill | 1 MW | — | — |
| Mitchell-Bentley | manufacturing | 1 MW | — | — |
| Burcham Park Landfill | landfill | 0 MW | — | — |
Frequently asked questions
How many retired power plants are in Michigan?
GridCensus lists 50 retired power plant sites in Michigan from EIA-860 retirement records. 49 have a recorded retirement date, 34 of them in 2015 or later.
What is the largest retired power plant or brownfield site in Michigan?
St Clair in East China Twp is the largest by recorded capacity, at 1,910.1 MW. It is followed by River Rouge (944 MW) and Trenton Channel (775.5 MW).
Which power plant in Michigan retired most recently?
St Clair has the latest recorded retirement date in the state, June 2024, with 1,910.1 MW of capacity.
Which county in Michigan has the most brownfield and retired plant sites?
Wayne County has the most, with 6, followed by Ottawa County with 4.
How many EPA brownfield sites in Michigan have completed cleanup?
4 of the 4 EPA-tracked sites listed for Michigan are recorded as cleanup complete.
Looking for a specific record? The directory lists every brownfield site, A to Z.
More on Michigan, and states with similar counts
- Datacenter candidate sites in Michigan· 5,157 sites
- Electric substations in Michigan· 277 named
- Brownfield candidate sites nationwide
- Brownfield sites by state
- Brownfield sites in Pennsylvania· 59 sites
- Brownfield sites in Ohio· 52 sites
- Brownfield sites in Minnesota· 60 sites
- Brownfield sites in Wisconsin· 47 sites
About this data
Source: EIA-860 retired generating units and EPA RE-Powering America's Land contaminated-site records, as published March 6, 2026. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Brownfield and retired power plant sites in Michigan”, https://gridcensus.com/brownfield-sites/michigan (data as of March 6, 2026).
Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for brownfield sites in Michigan is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.