When DTE Energy CEO and Chairman Jerry Norcia arrived at the Blue Water Energy Center Monday, he joked it almost seemed as if the newly finished natural gas plant hadn't started up.
“I can’t believe how quiet this plant is. When I walked in, I said, ‘This thing better be running,’” he told a small crowd of government and DTE officials. “Sure enough, it’s running, and it’s making power.”
After a years-long push to erect the massive power plant in East China Township, the energy center was officially brought online this month, and on Monday, officials gathered to commemorate the occasion.
There were remarks from both of Michigan’s U.S. senators and other officials — most of whom highlighted the public-private partnership and union labor workers who helped build and will help run the nearly $1 billion facility.
Before the program, Dennis Decatur, a project manager for DTE, said the total cost of the 1,100-megawatt, combined-cycle plant was closer to $951.8 million and formally came online to begin its commercial operation on June 1 after months of “systems and commissioning checks.”
And just days after DTE retired its coal-fired St. Clair plant across M-29, Norcia said Blue Water is the latest step in the company’s plans to produce cleaner energy, calling climate change “an important matter for us and a defining issue for our generation.”
“It’s dispatchable, meaning that it can run 24/seven, 365 days a year. So, it really creates the backbone and a basis for us to invest in renewables, and we’re the largest renewable investor in the state,” Norcia said. “We’ve put (in) over $3 billion of work with renewable assets, primarily wind, and we’re looking to put another $3 billion to work over the next handful of years by adding solar. But you can’t do any of that without this plant.”
In combination with loosening its reliance on coal, Norcia said DTE’s steps are supposed to account for a 70-80% reduction in carbon emissions.
'Believe in industry': Opening new power plant a historic moment, local officials say
The lengthy process to bring the Blue Water Energy Center to fruition dates back over the better part of a decade.
Decatur recalled soil borings on its site being around 2014, and that operations staff were hired in 2019.
Dan Scripps, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission, cited its several years of planning, going from "a highly contested case to ultimately a unanimous decision and support.”
“We got our application for the certificate of necessity back in July of 2017, so five years next month," he said. "And that application was granted in April 2018.”
Multiple local officials weighed the historical significance of DTE’s new plant on Monday.
St. Clair County Board Chairman Jeff Bohm outlined DTE Energy’s presence in the county overall — from the Mighty Marysville that was built in 1914 before World War I and razed in 2015 to the St. Clair plant that was online in 1953.
“This is 11% of the entire SEV of St. Clair County,” he said, citing the new plant’s impact on the county’s state equalized value. “This plant, it’s massive.”
State Sen. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway Township, who’s also chairman of the Senate’s energy committee, recalled DTE’s earlier history as Detroit Edison.
“I remember going with my mom down to Port Huron to get new lightbulbs,” he said. “We used to go to Edison and trade in our old lightbulbs.”
For others, the energy center was a sign of bipartisanship.
“I think this is an example of when everyone works together for a common theme, for the common good, look what can happen. Projects get done on time, they get done with the help and the support of the community,” said U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township. “Those things don’t happen every day — government, people working together. And it’s all for the common good. … We as a government have to believe in industry.”
How does the natural gas plant impact the region?
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters said the Blue Water Energy Center was coming into operation at a critical time with an ability to support wider industry growth across the state and region.
“When you think of the advanced manufacturing, auto parts plants, and the future of where Michigan leads when we electrify vehicles, when we’re looking at autonomous vehicles in the future of mobility and the making of all that with a skilled labor that’s here in St. Clair and the other parts around here, you have to have power,” he said. “All of that needs to have the energy to make that happen, and DTE is certainly stepping up to the plate.”
It also comes amid wider speculation on how the region’s power grid may hold up against summer heat and storms.
Norcia acknowledged the issue, promising DTE Energy would play a role in facing the challenge.
“We’re the only ones that have built a new power plant in the state in probably a decade or so,” he said.
Scripps said the state shared DTE’s renewable energy goals, also adding the timing of the new plant was key.
“I know a number of you have seen the recent public comments from our regional grid operator around the likelihood of grid-scale outages this summer,” he said. “And while I think a lot of those comments have provoked unnecessary anxiety, what ultimately gives me confidence is our ability at the state level in partnership with DTE to permit, plan, build, and interconnect new plants like this one to add to our diverse portfolio of energy generation resources.”
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@ganentt.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.
