The Great Lakes region is in the midst of a seismic energy shakeup, from skyrocketing data center demand and a nuclear energy boom, to expanding renewables and electrification. In 2026, the Great Lakes News Collaborative is exploring how shifting supply and demand affect the region and its waters.

This story is part of the Great Lakes News Collaborative‘s latest series on rising energy demand and the future of the Great Lakes

The collaborative’s five newsrooms — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public and The Narwhal — are funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Executive Order Puts Oldest Polluting Coal Plants Back in Action

Emergency orders are keeping obsolete coal plants running, raising costs and prolonging toxic pollution.

Until May 2025, utility executives like those at Consumers Energy in Michigan operated in the world of orderly oversight of electricity generation.  In coordination with MISO, the regional transmission agency, and the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), Consumers Energy decided when to build new power plants to meet energy demand. When plants grew old and…

by Keith Schneider

The Great Lakes Are Wasting a Massive Source of Clean Energy

Huge potential gains from using waste heat from sewers, data centers, and power plants.

The energy system in the Great Lakes region, as in most parts of North America, is wasteful. Stupendously wasteful. Consider these data points. Two-thirds of the energy generated by the 2,100-megawatt Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, east of Toronto, comes in the form of heat, not electricity. The excess heat is transferred to cooling water that…

by Brett Walton