DETROIT – DTE Energy announced Thursday it will invest up to $1.5 billion in gas-turbine plants to replace coal-fired plants that the utility plans to retire by 2023.
The gas-turbine plants will provide approximately 1,000 megawatts of energy, enough to power 850,000 homes. One project is expected to be located on existing DTE property adjacent to the Belle River power plant in China Township, north of Lake St. Clair.
In 2015, the company acquired the 732 megawatt Renaissance Power Plant in Carson City and the 350 megawatt Dean Peaker Plant in East China Township to assure adequate generating capacity for DTE customers during peak demand.
Over the last decade, DTE Energy has cut emissions in half, and will further reduce emissions as the company retires coal plants and transitions to cleaner energy, such as wind, solar and natural gas.
“DTE Energy is committed to providing Michigan and our customers with reliable, cleaner sources of energy,” said DTE Chairman and CEO Gerry Anderson. “These new energy generation investments will significantly reduce greenhouses gases by moving to cleaner technologies. Just as important, it will enable us to deliver safe, affordable and reliable energy for DTE’s 2.2 million customers.”
In June, DTE announced plans to retire three of its five coal plants in Michigan – River Rouge, St. Clair and Trenton Channel – by 2023 and replace that capacity with a mix of cleaner energy, including natural gas, wind and solar power. The age of these plants, as well as additional coal plants planned for retirement statewide by other energy companies, demonstrates a need for new energy sources in Michigan.
Over the past five years, DTE has built significant renewable energy production which now accounts for 10 percent of the company’s total generation. DTE’s renewable generating resources provide enough clean energy to power more than 400,000 Michigan homes. In May, DTE Energy began construction on one of the largest solar arrays east of the Mississippi River located in Lapeer; this month the company began construction on the largest solar array on vacant land in the City of Detroit.
