Enrollment in DTE voluntary renewable energy program passes 50,000 customers, spurring additional solar projects
As of this week, enrollment in DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower voluntary renewable energy program passed more than 50,000 subscribers, making it one of the largest such programs in the United States and driving the company to plan additional solar projects amounting to thousands of megawatts.
“We want to thank all our MIGreenPower customers for their participation in this program and for helping to create a cleaner, greener Michigan,” Trevor Lauer, president and COO of DTE’s electric company, said. “At DTE, we are committed to getting as clean as we can as fast as we can. Adding large-scale clean energy projects allows us to bring more clean energy to the grid to more people. It’s also less expensive and more equitable and impactful in terms of carbon emissions avoidance.”
At this point, DTE estimated approximately 500 new residential customers are joining the program each week. Even corporations and nonprofits such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and the University of Michigan have signed on, reducing their carbon footprints by attributing more of their electricity use to local wind and solar projects in Michigan. In all, MIGreenPower customers have added up 1.9 million MW-hours of clean energy since the program began and, according to DTE, helped avoid 1.5 million tons of CO2 emissions.
DTE intends to add several additional MIGreenPower solar projects, including a 20 MW array in Washtenaw County and 100 MW of projects focused in rural communities. A recent Request for Proposal also called for 500 MW of new wind and/or solar projects capable of going online in 2023 to support the program.
This is all in addition to the company’s efforts to meet Michigan’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. As of last year, that standard was set at 15 percent, but today, DTE’s renewable energy capacity increased 40 percent beyond that due to the growth of the MIGreenPower program.
