Solar panels coming to Ypsilanti city hall, Food Co-op

The sun is smiling on Ypsilanti and the city’s residents are aiming to capture that radiance and turn it into electricity.

Nineteen solar panels are planned to be installed on the Ypsilanti City Hall and Food Co-operative later this year. Making all of this possible is a $36,000 grant awarded to the city and co-op by the state.

Seven of the solar panels will join the five already on the roof of the co-op. The other 12 will be installed on the back side of the city hall. Local residents have raised a few thousands dollars for each site and lined up in-kind donations to help cover costs.

A monitoring system is expected to be up and running this summer on the co-op’s website that will monitor how much electricity it produces. A similar system is being proposed for the City Hall solar project.

This is on top of the city’s efforts to add a solar water-heating system to the Rutherford Pool that will heat the showers. These projects won’t supply all of the energy needs of the facilities but will demonstrate to the public how the systems work, are cost-effective and can significantly offset energy costs in smaller buildings, such as single-family homes.

The group of local resident behind the project is looking for $50 pledges to fund the City Hall solar project. For information on giving, click here.

Source: Corrine Sikorski, general manager of the Ypsilanti Food Co-op
Writer: Jon Zemke