DTE Energy has activated Michigan's largest batch of wind turbines with the completion of its Polaris Wind Park in mid-Michigan's Gratiot County, the company announced.
The 68 new turbines generate "enough clean energy to power more than 64,000 homes," the utility said, in a news release issued Thursday.
The announcement came by coincidence just a day after the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a company spokeswoman said.
It also comes just days after General Motors announced it expects all its facilities in southeast Michigan to run on clean and renewable energy within three years. The automaker has purchased 500,000 megawatt hours of solar energy from DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower program, GM said Monday.
The new wind turbines are nearly 500 feet tall when the tip of a turbine blade is in its highest position, said Cindy Hecht, a senior communications strategist for DTE.
"For reference, the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet high," Hecht said. That's measured from the base of Liberty's pedestal to the tip of the torch, says the Statue of Liberty website.
Polaris is just the first of four new wind parks that DTE said it planned to commission this year, as the state's largest utility ramps up its renewable energy sources. The new wind parks represent "a significant step toward the company’s goals of reducing carbon emission by 50% by 2030," the news release said.
The company also will continue to add solar power as it works to reach a net zero level of carbon emissions by 2050, said Trevor F. Lauer, president and chief operating officer of DTE Electric, the utility's producer and distributor of electricity. The company said it planned to invest $2 billion "in wind and solar assets" over the next five years. It has 31 arrays of solar-energy collectors, the release said.
Wind parks, also called wind farms, offer more than just clean energy, the company's release said.
"They also provide a stable source of income for landowners who have turbines on their property," as well as new jobs in the local economy and a new stream of property tax revenue, DTE said.
DTE used the announcement of its new wind farm to nudge interest in MiGreenPower, a program that lets DTE customers pay slightly more on monthly electric bills to accelerate the utility's investment in renewable energy sources. Otherwise, the company is limited in how much it can spend on renewables by plans it must file with state regulators.
