General Motors invests in solar power from DTE Energy
General Motors (GM) will invest in 500,000 megawatt hours of solar energy from DTE Energy as part of DTE’s MIGreenPower program.
The MIGreenPower program is available to all DTE customers who want to boost their percentage of wind and solar energy operations. GM’s investment should deliver enough clean energy to supply GM’s Southeast Michigan facilities by 2023, including the Renaissance Center global headquarters in Detroit, the GM Global Technical Center in Warren, the Milford Proving Ground in Milford, two local assembly plants at Orion and Detroit-Hamtramck, as well as several smaller sites across Southeast Michigan.
In February 2019, GM purchased 300,000 MWh of wind energy from DTE, bringing the total amount to more than 800,000 MWh.
“Projects like this can have a substantial impact on reducing emissions and we’re proud to lead the way in clean energy procurement in our home state,” GM’s Chief Sustainability Officer Dane Parker said. “Not only should this agreement reduce emissions in the near term, it’s a glimpse into a world with electric vehicles, built by renewable energy, and in the case of our workplace chargers, charged by a green grid too. And as we scale our EV portfolio and access to a green grid around the world, the future looks brighter than ever.”
This new investment will fund two new DTE solar parks that will be among the largest in the state. GM’s initial MIGreenPower commitment was used to fund three wind parks scheduled to achieve commercial operation at the end of 2020.
“DTE is grateful to GM for their commitment to building a clean energy future for Michigan,” DTE Electric President and COO Trevor Lauer said. “We developed MIGreenPower to provide all of our customers, business, and residential alike, with access to more clean energy. We have enrolled thousands of residential customers in the program as well as some of our state’s most well-known companies. We encourage all of our customers to sign up and help us accelerate renewable energy development in Michigan and help mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
Detroit-based DTE, which supplies electricity to customers in Southeast Michigan, has a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2040 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Participation in the MIGreenPower will help the company achieve those targets.
“This investment is in line with GM’s accelerated renewable energy commitment to source 100 percent of GM’s U.S. facilities with renewable energy by 2030 and global facilities by 2040,” Parker said.
