DTE Energy adding 500 MW of MIGreenPower renewable energy projects to voluntary options

As a means of adding more voluntary renewable options to its customers, DTE Energy announced a new bidding process last week to add approximately 500 MW of new renewable energy projects to its MIGreenPower program.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) will include new wind and solar projects, both with and without energy storage. All bidders will have to be ready for their Michigan-based projects to reach commercial operation in 2023. They will have to be interconnected to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) or distribution level transmission. Bids are due by April 29, 2022.

“We want to thank all of our MIGreenPower customers for their participation in the program,” Trevor Lauer, president and COO of DTE’s electric company, said. “Over the next decade, we plan to continue adding clean energy projects and investing in new technologies to move our state closer to a carbon neutral future.”

MIGreenPower is a voluntary program, which allows industrial, business, and residential customers to attribute more of their electricity use to renewable energy. To date, the program has enrolled 1.8 million MW hours of clean energy for the program’s use, which led to 1.4 million tons of avoided CO2 emissions. This was coupled with increases in DTE’s clean energy generation last year, with three additional wind parks and a new solar park. Further benefits will be felt from new utility-scale and smaller community solar projects recently approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Contracts for the new RFP are expected to be executed this summer.