DETROIT, Mich. — General Motors has lined up power from two newly built Michigan solar farms that together are expected to produce about as much electricity in a year as three of its in-state assembly plants use.
The automaker announced Thursday that it is the main customer of two solar sites: a utility-scale array in Branch County and a second, called Lake Iris, in St. Clair County. Both came online within the past several months and were developed by NorthStar Clean Energy, a sister business of the company that owns Consumers Energy. GM called it the largest clean-energy project in its history.
The two sites have 300 megawatts of combined capacity, and GM has claimed 92% of it under a virtual power purchase agreement. The company expects about 539,000 megawatt-hours a year, enough for roughly 52,000 homes and equal to the yearly use of its Lansing Delta Township plant, Flint Assembly and Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck.
Total investment comes to roughly $550 million, about $380 million for the Branch County site and $170 million for Lake Iris. GM helped fund development but has not said how much it put in. Construction supported more than 550 full-time local jobs, and the Branch project helped Bethel Township win a $1 million Renewables Ready Communities Award for its township hall expansion and road work. Lake Iris will include pollinator habitat across the grounds.
The company intends to count clean-power credits from the solar farms against emissions tied to the electricity it buys for manufacturing. The company says it has cut those operating emissions 52% since 2018 and in 2025 bought enough renewable power to match all of its U.S. electricity use.
The deal follows a 15-year renewable purchase GM signed in August 2024 with NorthStar for a solar project in Newport, Arkansas, meant to serve its two Lansing-area assembly plants and a factory in Wentzville, Missouri.
From the HERE City State Desk.
Section: More Lansing MI business news
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