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DTE Energy (DTE) to Meet Emission Goal Earlier, Cut Coal Use

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DTE Energy (DTE - Free Report) recently announced plans to further lower the usage of coal in electricity generation, which will allow the company to achieve its 50% carbon emission reduction goal by 2028 from 2005 levels, which is at least two years earlier than planned. The company decided to stop coal usage in the Belle River Power Plant in St. Clair County, MI by 2028-end.

DTE Energy will continue with its long-term carbon emission reduction plans. The company aims to lower 80% emissions by 2040 and reach net-zero emission by 2050 from 2005 levels. It is aggressively cutting carbon emissions and might achieve the net-zero emission goal earlier than 2050.

DTE Energy’s Path to Net-Zero Emission

DTE Energy provides safe and reliable services to customers. The company, like many other utilities, has decided to achieve net-zero emission in its operations. DTE Energy aims to achieve its emission reduction target by retiring coal-fired power plants, and replacing the production by adding thousands of megawatts of wind and solar power.

DTE Energy is also incorporating natural gas in its portfolio to balance more renewable power usage and is steadily making investments in carbon capture, large-scale storage, and modular nuclear facilities. The company is also expanding voluntary renewable energy programs like MIGreenPower.

Transition in Utility Space

Per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency release, electricity generation in the United States accounted for 25% of 2019 total greenhouse emissions. A clear transition is quite evident in the U.S. Utility space, with utilities announcing plans to cut carbon emissions from their operations.

The clean energy shift is possible for the sector due to abundant availability of clean natural gas and other alternative energy sources like solar, water as well as wind. Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration report, the share of renewables in the U.S. electricity generation mix will increase from 21% in 2020 to 42% in 2050, with wind and solar being the major contributors.

Many U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon-neutral by 2050 and a few prominent utilities among them are Exelon Corporation (EXC - Free Report) , FirstEnergy Corp. (FE - Free Report) as well as Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) . The ongoing research and development in the utility space is substantially reducing the cost of operating utility-scale renewable projects and the development of large scale battery units is ensuring that clean electricity is supplied to end users from renewable sources on a 24x7 basis.

Price Performance

In the past six months, shares of DTE Energy have lost 19.7% compared with the industry’s 4% decline.

Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Rank

DTE Energy carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) at present.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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