In late 2024, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant became the sixth Stellantis facility to meet their energy savings and carbon reduction goals with the help of DTE Energy’s Strategic Energy Management (SEM) program. This accomplishment advances Stellantis’ global Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and achieve net zero carbon in 2038.
DTE’s SEM program is tailored for commercial and industrial companies, offering guidance and support to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It enhances operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness, engages employees and helps companies stay ahead of regulatory compliance. Additionally, DTE’s SEM program fosters a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging regular assessment and enhancement of energy management practices with the participating company.
When DTE Energy launched its SEM program for large industrial companies in 2019, Stellantis quickly partnered with them by enrolling two of its plants to help reduce its carbon footprint. The Stellantis Corporate Energy Group used the global pandemic as an opportunity to refine facility operations during non-production periods. Each Stellantis plant formed a dedicated energy team, comprising members from the facilities team, plant leadership and the corporate energy group, guided by DTE SEM experts. These teams committed to a 24-month plan focused on reducing or eliminating idle loads and maximizing operational efficiency. Unnecessary idle load energy consumption refers to energy used by equipment that is ‘on’ but inactive, often with little to no operational need, while driving up energy costs.
With DTE’s support, the dedicated energy team developed a standardized process for identifying, tracking and auditing plant shutdown performance. They identified previous best performance in electrical and natural gas consumption and used it as a benchmark to create an energy consumption target. Stellantis facility managers then collaborated with production departments to reduce non-production idle loads and leveraged automated system controls to meet the target goal.
Since 2019, Stellantis has worked with DTE’s SEM team to expand this strategic shutdown process to eight plants in southeast Michigan and Stellantis’ Auburn Hills technical center, collectively saving over 60 million kWh of electricity. The greenhouse gases eliminated through these energy savings are equivalent to the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of 8,400 homes for one year. In addition to reducing energy costs, Stellantis earned over $3.4 million in energy efficiency rebates from DTE.
Stellantis’ proactive approach and collaboration with DTE’s SEM Program demonstrates the potential for substantial energy savings, emissions reduction, and operational efficiency for other companies in the industrial sector. This partnership with DTE not only benefits the environment but also delivers significant cost savings, setting a benchmark for other companies to follow.
For more information about DTE’s SEM program visit DTEenergy.com/SEM.
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- Left to right – Tobie Fitch – 3rd Shift Facilites Maintenance Unit Lead (MUL), Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Richard Wertenberger – 1st Shift Facilities MUL, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Krishnan Ponnusamy – 2nd Shift Facilities MUL, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Steve Londo – Stellantis’ Corporate Energy Group; Lamarcus Keels – Plant Manager, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Tim Couch – Facilities Manager, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Bill Clemens, DTE; Kim Baslock – Corporate Energy Group Supervisor, Stellantis; Feras Karim-Energy Management Systems, Leidos; Tasnia Zaman – Energy Analyst II, Energy Performance Services, Lisa Lawee – SEM Program Manager, Energy Performance Services; Eric Jackson – UAW Production Committeeman , Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant Brad Jones – UAW Energy Domain Lead, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Patrice Patton – UAW Continuous Improvement & Plant Communications Lead, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant
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- Brad Jones – UAW Energy Domain Lead, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Tim Couch, Facilities Manager, Stellantis Dundee Engine Plant; Krishnan Ponnusamy – 2nd Shift Facilities MUL, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant; Bill Clemens, Tasnia Zaman, Lisa Lawee, Steve Londo– Stellantis’ Corporate Energy Group; Feras Karim; Richard Wertenberger – 1st Shift Facilities MUL, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant
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- Brad Jones – UAW Energy Domain Lead, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant with Krishnan Ponnusamy – 2nd Shift Facilities MUL, Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant and Bill Clemens, DTE Energy
