General Motors and DTE Energy are building a new 800-kilowatt solar array at the Warren Transmission plant that will be the automaker's largest solar installation in Michigan.
"By supporting this project and making renewable energy commitments globally, we will surpass our goal to promote 125 megawatts of clean power by 2020," said Rob Threlkeld, GM global manager of renewable energy. "This new array, along with our solar array at the nearby GM Technical Centre in Warren, makes GM's commitment to clean energy visible to the Warren community."
The 2,800 solar panels will generate electricity that will go back to the grid. DTE Energy will own the array on 4.25 acres of land leased from GM.
Warren Transmission builds front-wheel drive transmissions and the drive unit for the Chevrolet Volt.
The solar array will generate approximately 1m kilowatt hours of electricity per year, the energy equivalent of powering the annual electricity needs of about 135 local homes.
Warren Transmission recently met the EPA Energy Star Challenge for Industry by reducing the energy intensity of the facility by 12.3% in just two years. The facility is also landfill-free, meaning it reuses, recycles or converts to energy all waste from daily operations.
GM currently can generate up to 46 megawatts of solar power at 19 facilities worldwide.
