DTE Energy Announces Plan to Improve Electric Reliability by Over 60% in Next Five Years
As part of its five-year, $9 billion plan to build the grid of the future, DTE Energy will today file its 2023 roadmap to improved reliability (Distribution Grid Plan) with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC). The plan accelerates system upgrades, with a goal of improving reliability for customers by more than 60% over the next five years.
As part of this roadmap, DTE announced three customer-focused goals:
- Increase average reliability by over 60% within five years, putting DTE on track to be in the top half of best performing utilities nationwide for both the frequency and duration of outages.
- Transition to a smart grid with full automation within five years, resulting in smaller and shorter outages.
- Within three years, 90% of the circuits in Detroit will have been updated, with the remaining 10% actively undergoing upgrades.
“We are committed to building the grid of the future,” said Matt Paul, president and chief operating officer, DTE Electric. “Last year, our system operated without incident 99.9% of the time, but we still have work to do to create a more resilient power grid that provides customers with the reliability they expect and deserve.”
Highlights of the reliability roadmap include:
- Trimming more than 30,000 miles of trees throughout DTE’s service territory.
- Updating more than 10,000 miles of existing infrastructure.
- Rebuilding some of the oldest sections of DTE’s grid to increase capacity and reliability, including new substations in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, Almont Township, Lenox Township, Van Buren Township, Plymouth Township and Lapeer. Where it makes sense, overhead equipment will be relocated underground.
- Fully automating the grid within five years by installing 10,000 smart devices, allowing for faster identification of damaged areas and rerouting of service for most customers during an outage.
“More reliable. More automated. More resilient. These are our key objectives for the next five years,” said Paul. “For example, adding more automation technology to our system will enable us to quickly isolate outages and reroute power for many affected customers, so they will continue to have service while our crews are making repairs.”
Over the past five years, DTE has invested more than $5 billion in its electric grid and the company will invest an additional $9 billion over the next five years as part of its plan to improve reliability. With this investment, the Company will accelerate its four-point plan already being executed, focusing on work that delivers the most reliability improvements for customers: trimming trees, updating existing infrastructure, rebuilding significant portions of the grid and accelerating the transition to a smart grid. These investments will not only harden the grid against more frequent and extreme weather events but will also support Michigan’s energy transition, including electrification and distributed generation.
DTE’s Distribution Grid Plan will be made available on the MPSC docket later today.
