Detroit-based General Motors Co. today announced that by 2023 it will run all of its southeast Michigan offices, plants, and facilities on solar and wind energy in a new deal with DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower program.
GM and DTE Energy have partnered today to source 500,000 megawatt hours of solar energy as part of DTE’s MIGreenPower program. The deal follows an initial investment of 300,000 MWh of wind energy purchased by GM in February 2019.
GM’s investment in MIGreenPower will deliver enough clean energy to supply the Renaissance Center global headquarters in Detroit, GM Global Technical Center in Warren, Milford Proving Ground in Milford Township, and two local assembly plants; Orion and Detroit-Hamtramck, as well as several smaller GM sites across the region.
The automaker said its Orion and Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plants will be powered via wind and solar energy by 2023. Orion Assembly builds the Chevrolet Bolt EV. Detroit-Hamtramck will build the GMC Hummer EV, Cruise Origin, and other future EVs.
GM has also committed to expanding the availability of workplace charging stations at its regional facilities. The units will source power from wind and solar energy.
“Projects like this have a substantial impact on reducing emissions and we’re proud to lead the way in clean energy procurement in our home state,” says Dane Parker, chief sustainability officer at GM. “Not only does 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.”
GM’s initial MIGreenPower commitment was used to fund three wind parks scheduled to achieve commercial operation at the end of 2020. GM says its total investment will support approximately 1,500 clean energy jobs in Michigan during project construction.
“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,” said Parker.
The automaker said the investment will fund two new DTE solar parks that are currently in development. They are expected to be among the largest in the state.
“DTE is grateful to GM for both their partnership and commitment to building a clean energy future for Michigan,” says Trevor F. Lauer, president and COO of DTE Electric. “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.”
DTE Energy develops and manages energy-related businesses and services nationwide and has operating units that include an electric company serving 2.2 million customers in southeast Michigan and a natural gas company serving 1.3 million customers in Michigan. The DTE portfolio includes energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects; renewable natural gas; natural gas pipelines, gathering and storage; and energy marketing and trading.
