Nessel scrutinizes DTE plans for Google data center in Van Buren Twp.
LANSING — State regulators should require DTE Energy and Google to provide more details on costs and financing for a massive data center in Van Buren Township to ensure those project costs won't bleed into other customers' rates, Attorney General Dana Nessel's office argued in a regulatory filing last week. Nessel's office made the arguments in a petition for rehearing submitted to the Michigan Public Service Commission on Nov. 2, about a month after the commission approved special contracts between DTE Electric Co. and Google for the western Wayne County data center. At the time, the commission said the contracts were "conditioned on mandatory protections to prevent other customers from having to bear any costs associated with the project." But Nessel's office, in its filing, argued state regulators should require more concrete numbers from DTE as it evaluates costs and benefits, including the costs of the electricity transmission line expansions required for the data center, to ensure those costs aren't passed onto ratepayers. Additionally, Nessel's office said the commission should require stronger assurances from Google about what costs or stranded assets it would cover in the event of an earlier-than-expected closure of the data center. "The unintended consequence of these
Van Buren Charter Township, MI · 14h
