VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP — Google is trying to convince Michigan that its proposed data center near Detroit Metro Airport is not the kind of project communities across the state have been fighting.
That may be the most important part of the story.
The company and its development partners are pitching the Van Buren Township project as a cleaner, more advanced version of the massive server farms now spreading across the country to power artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital commerce. Google says the project would be backed by new clean energy resources, advanced storage and demand flexibility through a partnership with DTE Energy. Google has said the agreement would support 2.7 gigawatts of new clean resources for the local grid…