OREANDA-NEWS. General Motors is partnering with DTE Energy to build a new 800-kiowatt solar array at its Warren Transmission plant that will be GM’s largest solar installation in Michigan.

“By supporting this project and making renewable energy commitments globaly, 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 Center in Warren, makes GM’s commitment to clean energy visible to the Warren community. 

The 2,800 solar panels will generate clean 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 for a variety of GM’s most-popular cars, crossovers and SUVs, as well as the drive unit for the new 2016 Chevrolet Volt.

The solar array will generate approximately 1 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, the energy equivalent to powering the annual electricity needs of about 135 homes in southeast Michigan.

“DTE is proud to be the state’s largest investor in solar and wind,” said Irene Dimitry, vice president of business and development for DTE Energy.  “The GM Transmission partnership is part of a broader, long-term plan to move us toward a cleaner, more diversified energy portfolio.”

In addition to the solar array, Warren Transmission recently met the EPA ENERGY STAR® Challenge for Industry by reducing the energy intensity of the facility by 12.3 percent 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 houses 46 megawatts of solar power at 19 facilities globally. When the Warren Transmission array is complete, the global footprint of solar projects at GM sites will be equivalent to the size of nearly 125 American football fields.