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September 29, 2026 - The long-range power supply plan for DTE Energy under consideration by Michigan regulators includes the construction of two natural gas plants, and would more than double the utility’s electric capacity over 20 years.
DTE is proposing natural gas plants in Monroe County’s Milan Township and Livingston County’s Handy Township.
Environmental groups say the facilities are needed primarily to serve Oracle and OpenAI’s 1.4 gigawatt Saline Township data center and Google’s proposed 1 GW Van Buren Township facility.
DTE says the new gas plants are needed to replace the Monroe coal plant, which is being retired in stages in 2028 and 2032.
The Michigan Public Service Commission will weigh concerns from groups representing environmental, ratepayer, and other interests in evaluating DTE’s long-term power plan for its 2.3 million Southeast Michigan electric customers. The commission’s decision carries major implications for climate action, residential electricity rates, and regional air quality.
The MPSC has 300 days to issue its initial review of the plan.
Data centers, Monroe coal retirement shift DTE power demand, supply
The Saline Township and Van Buren Township data centers represent 2.4 GW in power demand.
Google’s operations will be served by 2.7 GW of new grid resources in the form of solar power, energy storage, and demand flexibility, Will Conkling, Google’s head of data center development for the Americas, said in a March blog post announcing the project.
DTE’s integrated resource plan (IRP) seeks approval for gas plants supplying 2.1 GW in power. The figure is more than twice what DTE predicted it would need four years ago, before the data centers were proposed, said Helen Li, an attorney with environmental legal group Earthjustice.
DTE spokesperson Colleen Rosso said the loss of 3 GW in power generation from the retirement of the coal-fired Monroe Power Plant is the primary driver behind plans for more natural gas generation.
DTE will fully close the Monroe coal plant in 2032, the result of a 2023 settlement with environmental, business, and labor groups.
DTE is building an “all of the above” energy mix that includes renewables, energy storage, nuclear power, and gas to affordably meet the state’s growing energy needs, the utility said in a Thursday press release.
The plan will reduce carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 84% in 2033, according to DTE. Carbon emissions will be 90% lower than the 2005 baseline in 2035, when carbon capture at the new natural gas plants is slated to begin, the utility said.
Katie Duckworth, an Environmental Law and Policy Center attorney, said data centers are driving the need for more generation at a pivotal moment when affordability concerns are rising.
The MPSC is set to make decisions over who pays for new power plants, and how residents are protected from fossil fuel plant pollution, she said.
“The commission has to get these decisions right,” Duckworth said. The MPSC’s decision on DTE’s long-range power plan could help advance clean energy, or lock in decades of additional pollution in the state, she said.
Natural gas is mostly methane, a potent greenhouse gas that produces carbon dioxide when burned. Pipeline leaks can lead to emissions of methane, which the Environmental Protection Agency estimates is more than 28 times as potent as CO2 in trapping heat.
Natural gas with carbon capture and storage that traps at least 90% of CO2 emissions is classified as clean energy under Michigan’s 2023 clean energy law. The law requires the state’s electricity generation to transition to 100% renewable sources by 2040, a standard DTE said it will meet in its 20-year plan.
The 700 megawatt, $2.5-billion gas plant in Milan Township and 1,400 MW, $3.9-billion plant in Handy Township for which DTE is seeking approval will be “carbon capture ready,” meaning they will be designed so this technology can be added in the future.
“These gas plants will be producing carbon emissions and other air pollutant emissions like all gas plants do,” Duckworth said.
Power plan will more than double DTE’s capacity
DTE’s plan for delivering power is the result of listening to customers who prioritize reliable and affordable power and want a “practical path to a cleaner energy future,” President and CEO Joi Harris said in a statement.
Regulated electric utilities are required to submit IRPs to the state every five years, detailing how energy needs will be met over the next 20 years.
As part of its plan, DTE proposes to do the following:
- Add 15 GW of renewable energy and 4.5 GW of energy storage. - Increase nuclear generation at the Fermi 2 plant to produce an additional 177 megawatts of electricity, beginning in 2036. - Build 2.1 GW of natural gas generation for “around the clock power.” - Increase demand response programs to help customers lower energy use during peak demand times, and create a virtual power plant to use batteries located in homes and businesses to reduce demand when the electric grid needs support.
The plan would more than double DTE’s maximum capacity from 16 GW in 2027 to 33 GW in 2046. By 2040, DTE anticipates 56% of its power will come from renewables, 19% from natural gas, 18% from energy storage, 4% from nuclear, and 3% from other sources.
Other DTE customers could pay for power plants, stranded assets: Environmental groups
The addition of 2.1 GW of natural gas generation could add costs for residential ratepayers under existing cost allocation rules, and create more pollution in Southeast Michigan, Duckworth said.
In its 2022 IRP, DTE said it anticipated the need for 946 MW of natural gas generation, less than half of what it’s now planning.
As part of special power contracts DTE filed in March for the Google data center project, the utility modeled a “proxy” 727 MW gas plant for 2033, similar in size to a 700 MW plant it’s now proposing.
DTE’s Rosso said several factors influenced the utility’s planning for its gas-fired capacity since its 2022 IRP, including state and federal energy policy, and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s requirements for reliability planning. MISO is the regional grid operator.
MISO now requires utilities to secure additional reliable capacity to ensure customers have power during periods of high demand, she said.
DTE’s IRP evaluated the energy needs of customers as a whole, and no single customer drives the need for a particular generating resource, Rosso said.
Bryan Smigielski, an organizer with the Sierra Club, said in a statement that the scale of DTE’s plan, which includes gas generation comparable to expected data center load growth, raises concerns that it “would socialize some of the costs and risks across the rest of us.”
In addition to the cost of power plants, which could be paid for by all classes of customers, advocates say other ratepayers could pay for “stranded assets” if a data center uses less power than anticipated or ceases operations.
Rosso said data centers served by DTE will pay their own way, and other customers will not be left paying for stranded assets. She highlighted protections included in the approved Oracle and pending Google contracts, including minimum monthly billing requirements, long-term commitments, and early termination payments.
Li said Earthjustice is litigating how to allocate costs for large load customers like data centers as part of DTE’s electric rate hike case. |
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