Belle River

Belle River is a 1,664.4 MW generating plant at 4505 King Road in China Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, comprising 10 generators. The facility includes two 697.5 MW conventional steam-coal units (ST1 and ST2), three natural-gas-fired simple-cycle combustion turbines (CTG 12-1, CTG 12-2, and CTG 13-1 at 85.3 MW each), and five petroleum-liquids internal-combustion generators (IC1 through IC5 at 2.7 MW each). The plant began operating in November 1981. DTE Electric Company owns and operates the facility; Detroit Edison Company, now a business name of DTE, constructed and initially operated the coal units. The plant is undergoing conversion from coal-fired baseload generation to natural-gas-fired peaking operation. Unit 1 ceased coal combustion and entered gas-system commissioning in December 2025; Unit 2 is scheduled to cease coal burning by the end of 2026. The converted gas peaking resource is planned for retirement by 2040.