Ford procuring 500,000 MWh of wind energy through DTE
22 February 2019
Ford Motor Company’s Dearborn Truck Plant, home of the Ford F-150 and Ford Raptor, Michigan Assembly Plant, home of the new 2019 Ford Ranger, and several new buildings on the Ford Research and Engineering Campus and Corktown campus, including Michigan Central Station, will soon be powered by 100% locally sourced renewable energy. This is in addition to the 500-kilowatt solar photovoltaic panel system already in place at Michigan Assembly.
This collaboration is part of a commitment by Ford to a substantial renewable energy procurement through DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower program, supporting the company’s Southeast Michigan portfolio and providing 500,000 megawatt hours of locally sourced Michigan wind energy.
Ford plans to announce a new Global Carbon Reduction Strategy, which will focus on renewable energy in conjunction with the launch of the company’s 20th annual Sustainability Report in June.
With MIGreenPower, DTE electric customers can join the company’s efforts to develop more Michigan-made renewable energy by matching their energy use to local wind and solar projects. In January, DTE received approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to expand its voluntary renewable offerings to include a tariff designed specifically for large corporate and industrial customers. Ford is the first company to announce involvement with this new tariff.
DTE plans to build additional renewable energy projects and expand MIGreenPower to meet increasing customer demand. As the state’s largest producer of renewable energy, DTE will more than double its renewable energy generation capacity, investing an additional $2 billion in wind and solar by 2024.
I hate these lies in press releases.
Dearborn Truck will NOT "be powered by 100% locally sourced renewable energy." It will receive its reliable power largely from the Fermi 2 nuclear plant and the 3400 MW of coal-fired units just down the shoreline in Monroe. Oh, the PV panels at the site will "offset" its power consumption by back-feeding the grid when the sun shines, but this does a lot less for the environment than the raw kWh numbers suggest. The start-stop emissions from other plants and the higher emissions and wear and tear from fast ramping are not counted as costs of "renewable energy", meaning it's almost pure greenwashing (fraud).
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 22 February 2019 at 08:23 AM
FWIW, 500,000 MWh/year works out to be 57 MW average.
By way of comparison, Fermi 2 is rated at 1198 MW(e).
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 23 February 2019 at 05:12 AM
With appropriate storage, this wind farm could supply up to 171 MW during peak demand hours. With added storage it could reach 200+MW.
Posted by: HarveyD | 26 February 2019 at 06:16 AM