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New Facility to Bring Cheaper, Cleaner Power to the Ford Rouge Site

5 November 1998

New Power for a New Era: New Facility to Bring Cheaper, Cleaner Power to the Ford Rouge Site

    DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 5 -- Ford and Rouge Steel
have signed a letter of intent with CMS Energy Corporation for
construction and operation of a new environmentally-friendly power
cogeneration facility at the Rouge complex.  The new facility will be built
across the road from the aging Rouge powerhouse, and replace its output of
electricity and steam in the year 2000.
    The new cogeneration facility will be fueled by natural gas and blast-
furnace gas, a byproduct of the steel-making process.  Under the agreement, a
partnership of CMS Energy, the majority owner, and DTE Energy Services, will
sell Ford and Rouge Steel electricity and steam for a contractual period of
15 years.
    "This cogeneration plant will result in substantial energy cost savings to
Ford and Rouge Steel, and will help keep the Rouge complex competitive into
the 21st Century," said Pete Mehra, vice president - energy efficiency and
supply, Ford Motor Land Services Corporation.  "It will also be cleaner and
more environmentally-friendly than the present powerhouse."
    The present Rouge powerhouse is more than 75 years old, and is fueled by
coal -- as well as natural gas and blast furnace gas.
    The new facility is expected to significantly reduce emissions compared to
the output of the old powerhouse.
    Power not utilized by the factories in the Rouge complex will be available
to customers in the southeast Michigan electrical grid.
    "Michigan is short of both electrical generation capacity as well as
transmission capacity," said Mehra.  "This cogeneration facility will be a win
for Ford and Rouge Steel -- as well as for other electrical consumers in the
state."
    The facility will have a capacity to generate 550 megawatts of
electricity, utilizing two natural gas fired combined cycle units with heat
recovery steam generators, three blast furnace gas boilers and one steam
turbine generator.
    The construction cost of the project will be $240 million, providing up to
300 construction jobs and 30 permanent operating jobs upon completion.  The
project is contingent upon state and local approvals, incentives, and
finalizing the agreement between Ford, Rouge Steel, and CMS Energy.
Construction of the facility could begin as soon as spring of 1999.
    The new cogeneration facility is the latest in a series of major
investments announced for the Rouge complex, to help keep it viable and
competitive into the 21st Century.  Ford is building a new environmentally-
friendly paint operation, providing higher quality finishes for customers, for
the Dearborn Assembly Plant, which will begin operation in the year 2000.
    The Ford Dearborn Engine and Fuel Tank Plant presently is being retooled
to produce a new engine in 2000, and a new huge "Verson" stamping press is
being installed in the Dearborn Stamping Plant and will begin producing parts
early next year.
    Opened in 1918, the Rouge is Ford's oldest and largest manufacturing
complex.  Today more than 7,000 Ford employees, and 3,000 Rouge Steel
employees, work at the site.