Michigan is currently experiencing a boom in data center developments after a tax incentive was approved by lawmakers in 2024. Since then, there have been at least 17 proposals for projects. One project that has drawn the attention of the Michigan Attorney General and the public is a massive data center in Saline Township. The proposed data center will consist of three 550,000 square feet single-story buildings and is expected to use 1.4 gigawatts of energy. DTE Energy is currently contracting to provide this amount of energy that roughly equals the same amount needed to serve 1 million homes.
This deal requires the Michigan Public Service Commission to review a large number of commercially sensitive documents under a highly restrictive nondisclosure agreement. Thirty-nine MPSC staff members signed the agreement, allowing them to view two unredacted contracts that DTE drafted with Green Chile Ventures. The firm, a subsidiary of Oracle Corp., is developing the data center in partnership with Related Digital and OpenAI.
Troposphere Legal’s Chris Bzdok talked to Carol Thompson of the Detroit News about the situation: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/02/18/dte-energy-saline-data-center-oracle-openai-chatgpt-michigan-mpsc-nondisclosure-agreement-nda/88649806007/