As part of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) “Green Month,” Detroit-based DTE Energy is providing renewable energy for the Detroit Red Wings’ five home games played in March at Little Caesars Arena (LCA).
Designating March as “Green Month” is part of NHL Green, a league-wide initiative to address major environmental challenges and to encourage stadiums, hockey teams and fans to reduce waste, recycle and live more sustainably. The Red Wings have also designated the March 8 game versus the Vegas Golden Knights as “Green Night,” when DTE will serve as the evening’s presenting sponsor through its MIGreenPower voluntary renewable energy program.
DTE launched MIGreenPower in April 2017 to provide customers with an easy and affordable way to support more renewable energy. Customers who join MIGreenPower can reduce their electricity-based carbon footprint and attribute up to 100% of their energy use to DTE’s newest renewable energy projects in Michigan, including the Pinnebog Wind Park, located in Huron County, and three solar arrays in Detroit and Lapeer. The program is open to all DTE full-service business and residential electric customers.
“The Red Wings, like many of our customers, are looking for ways to minimize their environmental impact,” states Irene Dimitry, DTE Energy’s vice president of business planning and development. “As a company, we know we can play an active, critical role in reducing impacts to our environment – especially climate change. We’ve started work on our own long-term plan to reduce carbon emissions by more than 80 percent by 2050, and renewable, cleaner energy plays a significant role in meeting this goal.”
Before LCA opened, DTE built a new substation, along with a customized underground electrical system, to power the multi-use facility and its high-tech entertainment features. The arena’s electrical system allows staff to monitor the venue’s energy load and reroute power as needed. Among its many energy-saving features, the arena has more than 16.5 million LED lights.
The first 5,000 fans entering the arena on March 8 will receive a Red Wings/MIGreenPower t-shirt. This month, fans who are DTE customers will also have an opportunity to sign up for the MIGreenPower program at the arena.
As part of DTE’s carbon reduction initiative, the company plans to add 4 GW of renewable energy to its power capacity, including the Pine River wind park. Located in mid-Michigan, Pine River will be DTE’s largest wind project to date and the company’s first since the passage of Michigan’s new energy legislation requiring energy providers to achieve a renewable portfolio standard of 12.5% by 2019 and 15% by 2021. DTE also has plans to increase its wind generation capacity by adding another project in early 2020. The company says it is well-positioned to exceed the state’s 2021 target while maintaining reliability and affordability for its 2.2 million electric customers.
