
Dive Brief:
- DTE Energy is seeking proposals by June 27 for new standalone energy storage projects totaling about 450 MW, the Michigan utility said Wednesday.
- Eligible energy storage projects must be interconnected to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator or distribution-level transmission system, located in Michigan, and reach commercial operation by the end of 2028, DTE said.
- The request for proposals supports DTE’s efforts to deploy nearly 3 GW of energy storage by 2042, as outlined in its most recent integrated resource plan, including 240 MW to be deployed by 2027 and 520 MW more from 2028 to 2032.
Dive Insight:
DTE expects to execute contracts for projects in its latest energy storage procurement by the first quarter of 2026, it said Wednesday.
In May, DTE issued a similar request for proposals for 120 MW of standalone energy storage resources. That RFP also required projects to be located in Michigan and interconnected to the MISO or distribution grids.
DTE said the procurements are driven by its growing wind and solar fleet and by Michigan’s carbon-free power law, which includes renewable portfolio targets of 50% by 2030 and 60% by 2035. The law also requires state utilities to submit the necessary applications to the Michigan Public Service Commission to meet their share of the law’s 2,500-MW energy storage target by the end of 2029.
“With the growth of DTE’s renewable energy generation fleet, energy storage facilities are imperative to Michigan’s clean energy transformation,” DTE Energy Vice President for Clean Energy and Acquisitions Chuck Conlen said in a statement.
DTE already operates two Michigan battery installations colocated with solar power plants and the 2,292-MW Ludington pumped-hydropower plant it co-owns with Consumers Energy, it said Wednesday. In addition, its 14-MW/56-MWh Slocum BESS installation, which DTE describes as a pilot project, recently began commercial operations, it said.
DTE has also announced plans to deploy a 220-MW/880-MWh standalone battery installation, which DTE says will be the largest in the Great Lakes region, in 2026 at its retired Trenton Channel coal-fired power plant. The utility has no other plans to repower the Trenton Channel site, a spokesperson told Utility Dive last year.
Though DTE has not yet announced any other coal-to-storage repowering projects, it agreed to move up its planned phaseout of coal power from 2035 to 2032 and add 400 MW of additional renewable generating capacity by 2030 as part of a 2023 settlement with Michigan regulators.
That settlement also saw DTE increase its 2030 storage commitment to 780 MW, up from 360 MW previously, and boost its distributed generation allowance six-fold to as much as 6% of peak load.
For its part, Consumers Energy will aim to deploy 75 MW of energy storage resources by 2027 and 550 MW by 2040 under a 2022 settlement with the MPSC.