Overview:

-The North End Woodward Community Coalition leads a solar power initiative for low-income residents in Highland Park, Hamtramck, and Detroit's North End.
-With a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, this program will install solar arrays at key sites, generating energy credits for the community.
-Though in its nascent phase, the initiative promises a sustainable shift toward equitable energy solutions.

Solar power is at the heart of an initiative by the North End Woodward Community Coalition that aims to lower the utility costs for low-income residents in Highland Park, Hamtramck, and Detroit’s North End. 

Thanks to a $200,000 Community Power Accelerator grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the program is building a community solar trust that will place solar arrays at select sites in the region. The power generated from the solar panels will then add energy to the DTE electric grid, resulting in energy credits that will be redistributed to the community.

‘Empower our community’ 

According to NEWCC, 41% of Highland Park, 43% of Hamtramck, and 32% of North End residents live below the poverty line, with utility burdens that range from 6%-12% of household income. Government agencies classify utility costs above 6% to be a high energy burden. 

“We do a lot of work to create equitable systems to build power in our community by creating equitable systems change,” said Shelia Dudley, NEWCC’s Highland Park project manager. 

“We want something that’s going to empower our community to be stronger and to move forward and really to disrupt the injustices that have enveloped our communities.”

The sites include three churches, a community organization, and an ice cream parlor. They were selected from a callout to organizations with which NEWCC had existing relationships, from a former project that used the rooftops of these buildings to install equipment that provides free internet service to surrounding residents. 

While the height of the church structures made them excellent choices, Dudley said the rationale for the locations goes further than that. 

“Churches are constants, this will always be a church, they’re not going anywhere,” she said. “They’re the pillar of the community.”

Solar array to transform eyesore lot on Woodward 

The program will be rolled out as land readiness and funding allow, starting with Highland Park’s Prayer Temple of Love Cathedral, at 12375 Woodward Ave., using a newly acquired vacant lot next door. The approximately 10,000-square-foot space will contain 48 solar panels and is expected to generate 18,333 kilowatt hours per year.

Dudley said the goal is for the solar installation to begin when the ground thaws in spring, with the project functional by summer. NEWCC Green Project Manager Mary Braun said the organization is unsure when residents will receive their first energy credit checks but are hoping it will be this year. 

The PTLC energy credits are presently limited to members of the church’s own congregation. To qualify, residents must make 80% of the area’s median income or less.

“It should be their congregants [who benefit], because it’s their church that this is on,” Braun said.  

While NEWCC covers  the costs of the panels, battery, and installation, PTLC has also invested in the project by purchasing the parcel next door. PTLC Pastor Ricardo Smith said the site was neglected for nearly two decades with overgrown grass, debris, and abandoned trucks, creating both an eyesore and safety hazard. 

When the church reached the property owner, he donated the land provided that PTLC cover the cost of years of overdue property taxes, water bills, and citations, Smith said, adding that the bills amounted to a little over $10,000. 

The congregation supported the decision, especially after the results of their previous work with NEWCC, Smith said. 

“The first internet thing kind of went over without a hitch,” he said. “When [the solar trust] came about, it was just kind of like, ‘Okay, this is the lane we’re moving in. We trust you, Pastor.’”

In addition to the panels, the congregation plans to fill the site with rain barrels, flower gardens, and possibly vegetable plots. 

“[One of my] points of focus is to make sure it’s just not like an industrial zone,” Smith said. “We want to create more of an ecosystem… whatever is going to help protect the Earth.” 

An effort to address utility bill ‘rabbit hole’ 

The two remaining churches are next on the solar installation list, and while they could also be built in 2025, the funding has yet to be secured. The goal is to eventually expand the reach beyond the churches to the larger community, said Braun, the NWCC’s green project manager. State law restricts customers to generate no more than 110% of their annual energy usage to the grid.

Funding, land acquisitions, and DTE restrictions are only a few of the hurdles the project has – and continues – to overcome. 

Braun said there’s a lot of legal gray area and regulations around who can contribute to the grid and how. The nonprofit is still determining how to select the credit recipients and divvy up and distribute funds, she said. The plan is for each approved household to receive the same amount via a check payment. 

Braun, Dudley and Smith expressed their frustration at the power monopoly – and perceived abuse – within Southeast Michigan’s energy supply.

PTLC’s Smith said the struggle to pay for frequently increasing utility bills is a never-ending burden for many. 

“It’s just kind of like the way of life: [you] pay your light and gas bill, try to keep up on it, get behind, get on the budget plan, get a shut off notice,” he said. 

“People just get caught up in a rabbit hole, and then once you’re down in that hole, it’s impossible to get out of it.”

Down the road, NEWCC wants to install residential solar systems so people can directly own their own energy.

“People can’t afford energy, and it’s ridiculous,” Braun said. “There are so many restrictions on the ability for people to have that energy independence. This type of project kind of opens up opportunities.”

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