The city of Detroit has narrowed down which six neighborhoods it has plans to install solar arrays on blighted & vacant land to generate clean, renewable energy.
These six finalists are Gratiot/Findlay, Greenfield Park/I-75-McNichols, Houston Whittier/Hayes (Outer Drive Hayes), I96/ Plymouth (O’Shea), State Fair, Trinity/Pickford, and Van Dyke/Lynch.
“I just want to make this neighborhood look like other neighborhoods I’ve seen,” said Jacob Edward, who lives in the Gratiot/ Findlay neighborhood. “With the solar panels, I think it’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
Neighbors located in the footprint of the final sites will each get $10,000 – $25,000 of benefits per home, depending on the size of the solar array and the number of neighbors included. Renters will be paid 18 months of free rent.
Each neighbor will choose to use these benefits for the following: New windows, Roof repairs, New energy-efficient appliances, New furnaces and water heaters, Better home insulation, Smart thermostats, Energy-efficient lighting, and Battery backup for outages.
“There are some areas in the city where there is almost nothing left. So this was a way to take the blighted area and turn the into a positive environmental use, then put money in the surrounding neighborhoods,” @michaeleduggan said.
$9 million is being paid to DTE to power all city buildings, according to the city. With this initiative, which was first announced in June by Mayor Mike Duggan, the solar panels will be owned by the city.
Dona Anthony tells MDN she has been living in the neighborhood for 26 years now. She says she’s excited about the environmental/community benefits.
For more information contact your city District Manager: detroitmi.gov/departments/department-or to learn more about the program:detroitmi.gov/government/mayors-office/office-sustainability/solar-neighborhood-initiative
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