A2ZERO Solarize Program Reaches New Milestone for Residential Solar
The City of Ann Arbor Solarize program is celebrating a major milestone, surpassing 3 megawatts (MW) of new solar in the local community. Approximately 430 area homes have adopted solar energy through the two-year-old program; and participation has saved residents $1.3 million in the upfront cost of solar installation. Overall, residents are collectively expected to save nearly $12 million over the 25-year warrantied lifetime of the systems.
City of Ann Arbor Sustainability and Innovations Director Missy Stults explains when residents produce their own power, they are doing more than saving money. “Solarize participants are also helping to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, to stimulate the economy and create local jobs, and to enhance energy resilience.” Ann Arbor Solarize has provided an estimated 1,400 households to date with information about energy, the electric grid, the impacts of burning gas in buildings, and the benefits of electrification powered by clean energy.
Initiated in late 2019, Solarize Ann Arbor supports the city’s carbon neutrality work, A2ZERO. The community bulk-buy program gathers neighbors and friends together, along with participating installers, to learn about and install solar energy on their homes or businesses. By bringing together multiple individuals interested in solar, the city pre-negotiates discounts with installers, helping to bring solar energy within reach for many more households and businesses. “This helps our efforts to achieve a just transition to community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030,” says Stults.
Solarize Ann Arbor is open to anyone in Washtenaw County. More information, including how to participate, is available at www.a2gov.org/solar.
The Solarize Ann Arbor program is a key component of the city’s A2ZERO carbon neutrality plan, which was unanimously adopted by Ann Arbor City Council June 1, 2020. To learn more about the city’s carbon neutrality work, visit www.a2zero.org.
To commemorate the two-year anniversary of the plan, the Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability and Innovations will celebrate A2ZERO Week with festivities Monday, June 5–Saturday, June 11. The event is open to all and will include a series of educational activities, community gatherings and much more throughout the week. For details and a full schedule of events, visit www.a2gov.org/a2zeroweek.
