VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Google announced Tuesday that it is looking at joining a proposed 280-acre data center in Van Buren Township announced last year.
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According to Google, the data center operations will be served by 2.7 gigawatts of new resources for the grid.
DTE said Tuesday that the company is preparing to file energy contracts with the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Last month, the Van Buren Township Planning Commission passed the site plan for the data center proposal, which is being called "Project Cannoli," with a 5-2 vote.
Watch below: Data center plan heads to Van Buren Township board despite community opposition
"We look forward to working with Michiganders to bring new technologies and energy directly to the grid. We are confident that energy growth and ratepayer protection can go hand-in-hand," Google said in a post on Tuesday.
According to DTE, the next steps after the filings will be a review from the MPSC, which will include comments from the community and other stakeholders.
"What type of strain will this place on the grid?" I asked Trevor Lauer, the VP of business development at DTE.
"They’re paying all costs to connect to the grid and for all resources announced today. There is really no strain. This comes directly off the transmission grid," said Lauer.
If approved, Google would become the single largest taxpayer in the township. We're told the money will help fund schools, public safety initiatives and more. In addition, Google has committed to setting up a $10 million fund to invest in affordable energy initiatives in the area.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, whose office is fighting to reopen a contract surrounding a proposed Oracle/OpenAI data center in Saline, says Google met with her office to give some details on the project before the formal announcement.
“There is much yet to learn about how much of our resources Google expects to take here in Michigan to power and cool their massive data center operation, and my office will thoroughly scrutinize this proposal using every tool available to us to ensure DTE's existing customers, and energy consumers throughout the state, aren't left footing the bill for this project and the immense costs to deliver the expected electricity demand," Nessel said in a statement.
She also said Google directly committed to her that they will "pursue a contested case before the Public Service Commission over any utility contracts with DTE."
“While we continue our efforts to re-open the secret Saline contracts, we look forward to reviewing these DTE-Google contracts and advocating in this case for the people of Michigan,” said Nessel to conclude her statement.
I also talked to some community members today about the plans, the news met with mixed reactions.
“I'm just not a fan of them anywhere, especially not near an area I work in," said Zack Rushlow, who is concerned about the data center.
Mariah Corrano said she supports the new data center.
“I don’t see anything wrong with it. I think it’s fine. I think we use it for everyday life nowadays," said Corrano.
Kevin McNamara, Van Buren Township supervisor, said the data center noise will be low.
“I physically listen to them. They are very quiet. I expect that there’s not going to be any sound that gets off that site," said McNamara.
