WAYNE, Mich. — Regional utility Detroit Edison Co. has partnered with the Ford Motor Co. and power management firm Xtreme Power, of Kyle, Texas, on a renewable energy project designed to bring the electric utility closer to meeting a state mandate of generating approximately 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015.

With investments from Detroit Edison’s SolarCurrents program, the Michigan Public Service Commission, and Ford, the $5.8 million project features a 500-megawatt photovoltaic panel system at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne. The system will collect energy in a 750-kilowatt battery storage facility, capable of storing two million watt-hours of energy, or enough electricity to power 100 average-size Michigan homes for a year, according to reports.

Solar energy from the system will fuel production of Ford’s Focus and Focus Electric vehicles and a hybrid and plug-in hybrid that the car company plans to start producing at the plant beginning in 2012. As part of the project, Ford will install 10 electric vehicle-charging stations at the site to power battery-electric delivery trucks. Xtreme Power will build active power management systems on the stations.

The solar panel system, which Detroit Edison will own, install, and operate over a 20-year period, is expected to save the Michigan assembly plant approximately $160,000 per year in energy costs, officials say.

Detroit Edison’s SolarCurrents program is an initiative to develop 15 MW of electricity-producing photovoltaics on rooftops and at properties throughout Southeast Michigan.