The City of Detroit aims to provide 100% of its municipal electricity usage from clean energy sources in the next decade. This project focused on solar initiatives for the city. Photo credit: Wirestock.
Project Dates: January 2023 – April 2024
Client: City of Detroit Office of Sustainability
SEAS Faculty Advisor: Kerry C. Duggan, Lecturer
SEAS Students: Sanya Bery (Sustainability & Development), Warren Gunn (Environmental Policy & Planning; Sustainability & Development), Andrea Mahieu (Sustainability & Development), Megan McLaughlin (Geospatial Data Sciences), Margerie Snider (Environmental Policy & Planning), Daniel Vargas-Weil (Ecosystem Science & Management; Environmental Policy & Planning)
About the Client
The City of Detroit Office of Sustainability developed the Detroit Climate Strategy between 2020 and 2023, in strong collaboration with residents and multi-sector partners. The Strategy aims to mitigate the city’s impact on climate and ecological damage, while building a resilient and equitable future for Detroiters. The Strategy has targets to improve public health, air and water quality, and access to healthy food; foster green jobs; reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste; and make the city more resilient to the effects of climate change. Detroit is particularly vulnerable to flooding and heatwaves, which are exacerbated by the climate crisis. These vulnerabilities are disproportionately experienced by low-income, Black, Brown, and Indigenous residents — the same residents who also experience an inflated energy burden (the percentage of gross household income spent on energy costs). Under the Strategy’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, the city has committed to powering 100% of municipal electricity usage with clean energy by 2034.
About the Project
The City of Detroit Office of Sustainability requested support in crafting a plan specific to municipal and community-level solar development, with a focus on providing benefits to vulnerable communities through the production of clean energy. To meet this ask, the project team conducted an in-depth analysis of Michigan's community solar landscape; explored the legal framework and policy instruments that have facilitated successful community-level solar initiatives in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago; and carried out a cost-benefit analysis of the Detroit Solar Neighborhood Initiative, a city-owned project expected to generate 55 MW of renewable power to offset all 127 municipally-owned buildings.
Through extensive research and surveys with community solar leaders and advocates, the project team crafted a report with recommendations on siting, policy change, and best practices for the City of Detroit to ensure that community solar initiatives are inclusive, equitable, and responsive to community needs. Finally, the project team also created educational materials for residents interested in learning more about and pursuing community solar.
Read the final report here.