Environmental Leader

The Detroit Edison Co. has entered into a $90 million, 20-year agreement with a Michigan-based wind power company to purchase wind power and renewable energy credits, reports Crain’s Detroit Business.

The agreement with Heritage Sustainable Energy is the first that Detroit Edison has signed, following the passage of Michigan’s energy law last fall that requires electric utilities to provide 10 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2015, says the company.

Heritage Sustainable Energy, which is headquartered in Traverse City, plans to install seven or eight large-scale wind turbines at a wind farm near Cadillac. Detroit Edison says the wind turbines will be capable of producing about 15 megawatts of renewable energy, and are expected to be operational by late 2009.

To meet the state’s renewable portfolio standard, Detroit Edison expects to add about 1,200 megawatts of renewable power. The company also says it plans to contract with third-party producers, like Heritage, for half of that capacity, and to own renewable energy projects to meet the remainder.

DTE Energy, parent company of Detroit Edison, expects the majority of its renewable energy to come from wind resources. The company has acquired easements on more than 60,000 acres of land in Huron County in Michigan’s Thumb region for development of large-scale wind farms. It also has proposed two solar energy pilot projects that could produce about 20 megawatts of power.

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