Downtown Ypsilanti solar panels go up, catch rays

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Over the last five months, solar power has supplied Ypsilanti's City Hall with on average 2.6 percent of its energy needs, a number that Dave Strenski hopes is a starting point.

July and August both saw greater than 2 percent of city hall's power usage come from solar, and it was actually at a higher percentage in April and May. Less overall power was used during the spring months because the demand for air conditioning was lower.

"Hopefully, we'll see the on the graph in the next couple of months that it's 3 or 4 percent more solar, because we use less DTE power," Strenski says.

The new solar panels, installed earlier this year in an awning on the south side of the building, were part of a grass roots project, Solar Ypsi. Strenski heads up the group and first thought of the project years ago.

There haven't been any issues or problems yet with Ypsilanti's solar panels, and other municipalities have been contacting him to learn about the project and how it can be replicated. Daily, weekly, and monthly usage is compiled and can be seen here. Red bars indicate that the majority of the building's power comes from DTE Energy, but a little sliver of yellow indicates what is generated by the solar panels. Strenski hopes that little sliver can become a larger band when the weather cools down.

Also, as part of the DTE SolarCurrents program, the city recently received a check for $5,900, not bad considering a state grant paid for the panels. He says that money will be reinvested in other green technology for the city. And down the road, those panels will hopefully save even more money: "It's good to do for the city, for its own economic benefit," he says.

Solar Ypsi is still hoping to install solar panels on the bakery of the Ypsilanti Food Co-op later this month; the co-op already generates an impressive amount of solar energy. Next month, Strenski is participating in the National Solar Tour to demo the systems of both the city hall and the co-op to anyone interested in that technology.

Source: Dave Strenski, volunteer with Solar Ypsi
Writer: Kristin Lukowski