MPSC goes big on batteries, approving six energy storage contracts totaling 1,332 megawatts

Customer Assistance: 800-292-9555

The MPSC today approved a total of six energy storage projects totaling 1,332 megawatts (MW) of capacity, improving grid reliability as the energy transition accelerates.

The contracts approved today include:

• 450 MW Big Mitten Energy Center
• 350 MW Monroe I Energy Center
• 200 MW Fermi Energy Center
• 132 MW Fish Creek Energy Center
• 100 MW Cold Creek Energy Center
• and the 100 MW Pine River Energy Center.

The first three energy storage projects will provide a combined 1,000 MW of energy storage capacity to fulfil the settlement agreement in DTE Electric Co.'s most recent approved integrated resource plan (Case No. U-21193). The settlement agreement identified at least a 850 MW need for energy storage projects to fulfil the company's electric capacity requirements. The approved contracts include a 20-year tolling agreement with the Big Mitten Energy Center in Huron County and self-build contracts for the Fermi Energy Center Project and the Monroe I Energy Center Project in Monroe County.

The approvals move DTE Electric forward in meeting terms of the utility's most recent integrated resource plan, approved in a 2023 settlement agreement, which among other things called for adding 15,000 MW of solar and wind energy generation in Michigan.

The last three contracts listed are energy storage projects owned and operated by DTE Electric Co. that will serve the 1,383 megawatt (MW) data center being developed by Green Chile Ventures LLC in Washtenaw County's Saline Township (Case No. U-21990) while allowing the utility to improve grid reliability and drive down costs for customers. The Commission approved DTE Electric Co's application for this data center on Dec. 18, 2025, imposing mandatory safeguards to prevent residential and other customers from subsidizing its costs.

DTE Electric sought approval of the Cold Creek Energy Center, Fish Creek Energy Center and Pine River Energy center, along with the equipment supply agreements for battery modules and the master service agreements for engineering, procurement and construction.

Battery energy storage provides multiple benefits to the grid, by storing excess energy created when it's cheaper to produce and using the stored energy to provide power during times of peak demand. Energy storage helps ensure grid resilience and speeds up the transition to cleaner sources of electricity. Energy from renewable sources paired with energy storage is significantly cheaper than energy produced from coal or natural gas, reducing costs to customers.

The data center battery storage projects approved today are the first 332 MW of 1,383 MW of company-owned energy storage facilities that Green Chile Ventures must foot the bill to develop to match the data center's contracted demand. The total capacity of the battery storage projects the Commission approved for the data center project on Dec. 18 in Case No. U-21990 is greater than the capacity of DTE Electric's 1,150 MW Blue Water Energy Center, the most recent natural gas-fired plant built in Michigan, which the MPSC approved in 2018.

Under terms of the approval of the data center, Green Chile Ventures will bear the costs over a 15-year period to develop the energy storage for the project. DTE Electric will develop, own and operate the facilities to benefit its grid, while Green Chile will receive the value of any market revenues from operating the facilities in the wholesale market.

These two sets of storage project approvals in Case No. U-21193 and Case No. U-21990 bring DTE Electric's total storage capacity to 2,606 MW, among the largest utility energy storage portfolios in the country.

MPSC DENIES PETITIONS FOR REHEARING, REOPENING IN SALINE TOWNSHIP DATA CENTER CASE

The Commission denied petitions for rehearing and motions to reopen proceedings on the Commission's approval of special contracts for DTE Electric Co. to provide electric service for a 1,383 MW data center to be built in Washtenaw County's Saline Township. The Commission found that the Attorney General and others who petitioned for rehearing lacked standing to petition for rehearing, and that they also did not identify errors, newly discovered evidence, facts or circumstances arising after the hearing, or unintended consequences from the Commission's order necessary to justify rehearing under the Commission's rules. For the same reason, the Commission denied motions to reopen the case filed by the Attorney General and the Michigan Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Citizens Utility Board of Michigan.

The Commission's initial approval of the data center included the nation's strongest protections to prevent other customers from having to pay the data center's cost. Those protections include the utility agreeing to be responsible for costs it is unable to recover from Green Chile Ventures. Additional protections included a minimum contract duration of 19 years, a minimum billing demand of 80% that requires the data center to pay a minimum of 80% of its contracted electric use even if actual use is lower, and a termination payment of up to 10 years' worth of minimum billing demand if the facility stops operating before its contracted date.

In addition, the Commission denied the Attorney General's request for a contested proceeding on DTE Electric's application for approval of battery contracts related to the data center, finding that the contracts met the requirements for ex parte consideration. Additional information about the Commission's initial order approving the special contracts is available in an MPSC issue brief.

CREDIT APPROVED FOR MUNICIPAL EARLY ADOPTERS OF LED PUBLIC LIGHTING THROUGH DTE ELECTRIC CO.

The MPSC approved a per-lamp credit to benefit local governments that were early adopters of LED, or light emitting diode, lamps for public lighting through DTE Electric Co. (Case No. U-22001). The early adopters paid contributions in aid of construction between Jan 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2024, for a technology that has since become standard service. After that period, DTE began replacing lighting failures with LED lights at no cost to customers. The Commission in January 2025 directed DTE Electric to develop the bill credits for municipal early adopters so that they're not subsidizing "municipalities that have waited until LED conversion was announced" by the utility (Case No. U-21534).

The MPSC serves as an expert, impartial regulator committed to consumer protection, fairness and transparency. For information about the MPSC, visit www.michigan.gov/mpsc, sign up for its monthly newsletter or other listservs. Follow the MPSC on Facebook, X/Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

To look up cases from today's meeting, access the MPSC's E-Dockets filing system.

Watch recordings of the MPSC's meetings on the MPSC's YouTube channel.

DISCLAIMER: This document was prepared to aid the public's understanding of certain matters before the Commission and is not intended to modify, supplement, or be a substitute for the Commission's orders. The Commission's orders are the official action of the Commission.

# # #