Automotive manufacturer Stellantis signed the second largest corporate power purchase agreement on record today to procure 400 MW of new solar development in Michigan under utility DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower program.
With its participation in the utility program, Stellantis will be able to attribute 100% of its electricity use at 70 Michigan manufacturing and office facilities to solar by 2026, which will reduce the company’s emissions in North America by 50% and across its manufacturing facilities by 30% overall.
The clean energy commitment represents BloombergNEF’s second largest corporate PPA on record, and the agreement with DTE Energy represents enough clean energy to power 130,000 homes each year.
The 400 MW agreement trails the 650 MW solar agreement that rival automaker Ford signed with DTE Energy in August to provide clean power to its respective Michigan operations.
“While this day and this historic agreement are about clean and efficient power, I’d like to suggest that today is also about the power of partnerships in this new era of sustainable mobility,” said Mark Stewart, chief operating officer of Stellantis North America.
DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower program has procured more than 800 businesses to date as well as more than 75,000 residential customers. On an annual basis, MIGreenPower customers have contributed to 4 million megawatt hours of clean energy in the program. More information and to enroll in the utility program can be found here.
DTE is Michigan’s largest producer renewable energy. In its CleanVision Integrated Resource Plan filed last month with the Michigan Public Service Commission, DTE proposed increasing investment in solar and wind energy, accelerating the retirement of coal plants, and investing in the development of new energy storage – all reinforcing DTE’s commitment to cleaner energy.
If the CleanVision plan is approved by regulators, the utility will add more than 15 GW of new renewable energy projects over the next two decades.
Michigan is currently ranked 24th in the country for solar installations, receiving 0.8% of its electricity from its 937.7 MW installed, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The state has more than 3.5 GW of growth stage assets for deployment over the next five years.
Image: Stellantis
Stellantis committed to a 2021 ESG plan which called for the addition of self-production and on-site renewable energy generation across its global manufacturing operations. In 2021, the company consumed 16,058 GWh of energy, of which renewable energy was 7.5% of its usage.
In Europe, the company has signed 12,000 MWh PPA agreements in Zaragoza, Spain to procure solar power and 4,000 MWh of solar at the Mangualde manufacturing plant in Portugal. Its Zaragoza plant is Spain’s largest renewable energy self-generating project, with 19,200 PV modules installed with 8.64 MW of total power capacity.
In Asia, Stellantis powered its Ranjangaon, India facility with wind and solar energy of about 8.5 GWh per year.
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