Project Flex

The project

Electrical demand

No capacity figure on the record

Developer

Verrus, operated by Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners

Serving utility

DTE Electric

Site size

172 acres

Building area

1,800,000 sq ft

Grid, generation or storage

The site plan includes a utility substation.

Also on the record

The developer has offered a $10 million community benefits package contingent on final approval.

Last checked October 23, 2026. Every field above has been confirmed against the sources listed.

What has happened

Every entry carries the source it came from. Where the record gives no date, the entry says so rather than being placed by guesswork.

1. September 8, 2025The Planning Commission granted conditional site plan approval for six buildings totalling 1.8 million sq ft on 172 acres, with final approval conditioned on an independent review of the sound study and an energy audit. WXYZ Detroit
2. March 2, 2026The Township Board adopted Resolution 2026-07, a 186-day moratorium from 3 March through 8 September 2026 on new applications, permits and construction approvals for data processing centers and large land users (industrial operations over 100,000 sq ft). Charter Township of Lyon
3. July 14, 2026The fourth submission of the final site plan, addressing noise, lighting and drainage, was withdrawn the day after it was filed, the developer saying it would be resubmitted that week. Charter Township of Lyon
4. August 5, 2026The Township Board voted unanimously for Resolution 2026-17, extending the moratorium by 180 days, through 8 March 2027, to finish the large-land-use ordinance and its required hearings. Charter Township of Lyon
5. August 13, 2026Kimley-Horn filed the fifth submission of the final site plan on the developer's behalf, revised to address the township consultants' comments on the third submission. Kimley-Horn of Michigan, filed with Charter Township of Lyon
6. September 14, 2026The Planning Commission carried as Old Business a draft text amendment, AP-26-05, that would make large or intensive land uses — data centers named explicitly — a Special Land Use in the I-1 and I-2 industrial districts and require additional information at the time of application. Listed as a discussion item only. Project Flex itself was not on the agenda. Charter Township of Lyon
7. October 13, 2026Kimley-Horn filed the sixth submission of the final site plan, answering the township consultants' review letters on the fifth. It asks for administrative approval, or else a place on the Planning Commission agenda. The same night the Planning Commission again carried AP-26-05 as a discussion item only, and its agenda listed Project Flex's final site plan review among possible cases for 9 November 2026. Kimley-Horn of Michigan, filed with Charter Township of Lyon

Where the sources disagree

No megawatt figure has been disclosed by the developer or the township. Third-party trackers estimate 100 MW or more; that figure is not repeated here because nobody with the numbers has stated it. Separately, a December 2025 headline reported a data center “approved in Lyon Township”, while the township and later reporting both describe final approval as still outstanding — the September 2025 vote was conditional. Third, two anticipated final site plan reviews passed without the item appearing: 24 August 2026, which appears nowhere in the township’s record, and 14 September 2026, when the township planner told the Commission the project was not on the agenda and that the township did not know when it would be. Two dates remain unsettled as of 23 October 2026. The township’s 13 October agenda lists Project Flex among possible cases for 9 November 2026, while the applicant’s 13 October cover letter asks for the “November 14, 2026” Planning Commission agenda, a Saturday; the township sets the agenda, so 9 November is the date to watch. And the 13 October agenda still names the fifth final site plan review although the sixth was filed that day. Resolved since the last recheck: the “August 27” minutes the 14 September consent agenda received were the 10 August minutes, which the township now posts stamped “Approved: 9/14/2026”; both the consent line and the 14 September draft minutes misdate them, and no late-August meeting took place.

Published rather than resolved. Picking a favourite number and printing it alone is how a tracker becomes an opinion.

What DTE Electric customers pay, before and now

Those figures are DTE Electric’s own EIA-861 filings and they cover the whole territory. This page does not attribute any part of that change to Project Flex. It could not honestly: the change spans years in which this project did not exist, rates move for generation costs, storm recovery, tree trimming and approved return on equity all at once, and the large-load terms the Commission has approved are written specifically to keep these costs off other customers’ bills. Whether they succeed is an open question in front of the Commission, not a settled fact this site can assert.

What actually did change DTE Electric rates, case by case →

The terms a large load takes service under here

DTE Electric operates under U-21990, approved December 18, 2025. Approved special contracts for electric service to the Saline Township data center, with conditions — a contract-by-contract approval rather than a general tariff.

Contracted demand

Roughly 1,383 MW.

Contract length

A power supply agreement of roughly 19 years, extendable by the customer for a further 20, plus a separate 15-year energy storage agreement.

Conditions imposed

Cost allocation and rate design proposals ensuring future large-load interconnection customers pay their own interconnection costs, plus an administrative fee for further large loads.

The Attorney General's motion to reopen and her separate petition for rehearing were both denied on 27 March 2026. On 17 April 2026 she filed a claim of appeal in the Michigan Court of Appeals, seeking to invalidate the approval as an unlawful ex parte order and to remand the matter for a contested case hearing. The proceeding is not closed.

• Michigan Public Service Commission: MPSC approves DTE Electric energy contracts for data center with conditions to strengthen protections for other customers
• Michigan Department of Attorney General: Attorney General’s Efforts to Review DTE Data Center Contracts Rejected Again At MPSC
• Michigan Department of Attorney General: AG Nessel Files Appeal of MPSC Approval of DTE’s Saline Data Center Contracts

Sources

Everything above traces to one of these. Local agendas and FAQ pages get replaced in place rather than archived, so each carries the date it was read.

1. [1] Lyon Township ‘may be revisiting’ data center site plan: residents pack meeting — Planet Detroit, read August 21, 2026
2. [2] Press release — Project Flex data center proposal — Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read August 21, 2026
3. [3] Project Flex data center eyes final Lyon Township approval amid pushback from nearby residents — WXYZ Detroit, read August 21, 2026
4. [4] Lyon Township data center project: latest updates — Blackridge Research, read August 21, 2026
5. [5] Project Flex — 5th Submission of the Final Site Plan, cover letter dated 13 August 2026. In the township document center; search “Project Flex”. — Kimley-Horn of Michigan, filed with Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read September 7, 2026
6. [6] Planning Commission packets → 2026 Packets → Project Flex: a standing folder, separate from the meeting-date folders, holding the 1st through 5th Final Site Plan Review submissions. The township labels the fourth “4th Final Site Plan Review- Withdrawn 07/14/2026”, which is where the withdrawal date comes from. The folder also holds the 2026-03-18 signed independent noise review proposal and, under the 5th submission, the Noise Study and the Soundscape Report on ambient sound — the sound work the September 2025 conditional approval was conditioned on. — Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read September 17, 2026
7. [7] Planning Commission Agenda, Monday 14 September 2026. Old Business: AP-26-05, Large Land Use (including large data centers) Special Land Use Standards — Text Amendment, discussion item only. New Business: AP-26-34 Shadow Wood and AP-26-37 Lot 35 Lyon Crossing. The consent agenda receives and files “August 27, Draft Minutes and Public Comments”. Under Planning Commission → Agendas → 2026. — Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read September 17, 2026
8. [8] State of the three Planning Commission document series as read on 23 October 2026: agendas run … 10 August, 14 September, 13 October (plus a corrected 13 October); approved minutes now run through 10 August 2026, and the 14 September draft minutes sit in the 13 October packet’s consent folder; 2026 packet folders run … 14 September, 13 October, 9 November, plus the standing Project Flex folder, which now holds the 1st through 6th Final Site Plan Review submissions. No 24 or 27 August 2026 entry in any of the three. — Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read October 23, 2026
9. [9] Board of Trustees, 5 August 2026: Resolution No. 2026-17, Extension of Moratorium on the Issuance of Approvals or Permits for Data Processing Centers and Large Land Users, which recites Resolution 2026-07 of 2 March 2026; and the approved minutes recording its unanimous adoption. Under Board of Trustees → Packets → 2026 Packets → August 5, and Board of Trustees → Minutes → 2026. — Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read October 23, 2026
10. [10] Planning Commission Agenda, Tuesday 13 October 2026 (corrected). Old Business: AP-26-05, discussion item only. Possible Cases for November 9, 2026: AP-25-59 Project Flex – 5th Final Site Plan Review. Under Planning Commission → Agendas → 2026. — Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read October 23, 2026
11. [11] Project Flex — 6th Submission of the Final Site Plan, cover letter dated 13 October 2026, with an amended noise study dated 9 October 2026. Requests administrative approval, or placement on the “November 14, 2026” Planning Commission agenda. Planning Commission → Packets → 2026 Packets → Project Flex → 6th Final Site Plan Review. — Kimley-Horn of Michigan, filed with Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read October 23, 2026
12. [12] Planning Commission minutes: approved minutes of 10 August 2026, stamped “Approved: 9/14/2026”; and the unapproved minutes of 14 September 2026, which record approving “the minutes of August 27, 2026” and the planner’s statement that Project Flex was not on that night’s agenda. — Charter Township of Lyon (primary document), read October 23, 2026

Watch the docket this project runs through

Large-load contracts, tariff changes and the cases contesting them all arrive as DTE Electric filings. Alerts go out when one is filed and when a comment deadline is set — which is the only window in which a comment counts for anything.