City selects first Detroit neighborhoods to house solar fields
The program is part of the city’s plan to reduce neighborhood blight and fight climate change.
Residents share excitement with city officials for the new solar neighborhood plan at a press conference on Monday, June 24, 2024, in Detroit's Gratiot/Findlay neighborhood.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan this week announced the first three communities selected to build solar arrays on vacant land as part of the city’s Solar Neighborhoods project.
The program, part of the city’s plan to reduce neighborhood blight and fight climate change, aims to create 200 acres of solar arrays to generate enough clean energy to power all 127 of the city’s municipal buildings.
Gratiot/Findlay, Van Dyke/Lynch, and State Fair neighborhoods were selected for Phase 1 of the project, which will turn 104 acres of land in the combined areas into solar fields.
Five more neighborhoods are finalists for the expected Phase 2 of the program.
Neighborhood benefits
Only 21 homes in the area slated for the construction were identified as owner-occupied. Each homeowner accepted at minimum $90,000 and moving assistance to leave the area. Renters in the area will receive the cost of relocating and 18 months of free rent in their new homes.
There are 159 owner-occupied homes in the area adjoining the location of the new fields. Those homeowners will receive $15,000 to $25,000 in energy efficient upgrades to their homes. Upgrade options include:
- Windows
- Roof repairs
- Residential solar panels
- Energy efficient appliances
- Air sealing and home insulation
- Energy efficient hot water heaters and furnaces
- Smart thermostats
- Energy efficient lighting
- Battery backups
The homeowners living in the areas slated for construction who did not want to move were offered the same benefits and agreed to have the fields built around them.
Landlords and vacant landowners will receive fair market value pursuant to Michigan’s condemnation law.
Solar field development
Lightstar Renewables and DTE Electric Company will share the development of the solar fields. The city will retain ownership of all the land and lease it to the companies. Lightstar will build 63 acres of solar fields in the Gratiot/Findlay and State Fair neighborhoods. DTE will build 40 acres in the Van Dyke/Lynch neighborhood.
DTE will be awards two more neighborhoods and Lightstar will be awarded one more in Phase 2, giving both companies equal share in the project.
Phase 2
Five neighborhoods are competing to be selected for Phase 2 of the program and will not be selected until 2025. There are 31 owner-occupied homes in the area where the panels will be built. Twenty-eight homeowners have already signed letters of intent to sell. The city is proposing a $4.4 million equity fund, paid from reserves in the Utility Conversion Fund, to provide to the homeowners so they can exercise their right to sell if they choose so.
Community benefit details for each neighborhood
Gratiot/Findlay
- 23.2 acres of solar
- Nine relocation homeowners
- 36 community benefit homeowners who will receive $17,000 each in energy effect upgrades
Van Dyke/Lynch
- 40.9 acres of solar
- Seven relocation homeowners
- 85 community benefit homeowners who will receive $15,000 each in energy effect upgrades
State Fair
- 39.8 acres of solar
- Five relocation homeowners
- 39 community benefit homeowners who will receive $25,000 each in energy effect upgrades
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