DTE is building the grid of the future, one that is smarter, stronger and more resilient. Thanks to our enhanced work and an increased $1.5 billion investment in the electric grid, coupled with less extreme weather, DTE customers in Farmington experienced a 21% improvement in reliability and customers in Farmington Hills experienced a 43% improvement in reliability.
Our plan for building the grid of the future is well underway and focused in four key areas:
Quickly transitioning to a smarter grid
- With our new Systems Operations Center and recent launch of our state-of-the-art grid management system, DTE has laid the foundation of investing in smart grid technology.
- We’re adding significantly more technology to the system, effectively automating the entire system by 2029.
- How will this make a difference? It allows DTE’s team to pinpoint damage so crews can get to the affected area and make repairs faster. It enables damage to be isolated and power to be rerouted during an outage so customers can be restored within minutes while crews make repairs. These devices will automatically de-energize a line when a wire is on the ground – keeping customers safe.
Aggressively updating existing infrastructure
- Crews are in the field every day, replacing and upgrading poles, cross arms, transformers and other pole top and substation equipment.
- Our crews proactively work to identify equipment that needs to be replaced, like they recently did in Farmington Hills, performing a cable test to see if the cable was operating at the highest level that it could.
Rebuilding significant portions of the grid
- While updating equipment is important, DTE is completely rebuilding the older portions of the electric grid. This is critical work where entire substations are rebuilt from scratch and entire circuits replaced – the equipment that delivers power to customers’ homes.
Trimming trees
- Tree trimming remains one of the most effective methods to improve electric reliability. Trees account for half of the time our customers are without power and in areas where tree trimming is up to date, customers experience a 40% improvement in reliability.
- DTE has trimmed nearly 40,000 miles of trees since 2015 will have trimmed its entire system by the end of 2025.
- We’re committed to maintaining an aggressive tree trim cycle, to battle new growth and keep trees and branches away from electric equipment where it can cause harm.
Through this work, DTE is committed to reducing power outages by 30% and cutting outage duration time in half by the end of 2029.
We’ve made significant investments in the grid, but we’re not done yet. Over the next five years, we plan to invest more than $9 billion more to make our grid safer and more reliable for customers.
Building a world-class grid of the future for our customers will take time – but that investment is happening now and critical for Michigan’s future.
Interested in seeing the work being done in your community? Visit our power improvements map online.