Google inks deal with DTE Energy for another southeast Michigan data center

Tech giant Google has revealed itself as the prospective end user of a proposed southeast Michigan data center, announcing it has struck a deal with DTE Energy to power a new facility in the utility's territory. Local officials in Van Buren Township, located between Detroit and Ann Arbor, have been deliberating for months over a proposal by a California real estate company to develop a data center dubbed Project Cannoli, but until now the planned end user remained a mystery. On Tuesday, Google announced it is "evaluating" the 280-acre site west of the Detroit Wayne International Airport for a potential data center. Meanwhile, Google has inked a 2.7 gigawatt power deal with DTE Energy, which would deploy a mix of energy storage, renewable energy, and grid-sourced power to serve the 1 gigawatt data center. DTE officials said the deal would not raise rates for its 2.3 million electricity customers in southeast Michigan, as Google would cover the cost of new energy infrastructure. The project still needs approvals from the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees.