Benton Harbor City Commissioners have formally voted to accept a $3.3 million grant from the state to install solar panels on city buildings.
At their regular meeting on Monday, the vote was unanimous to accept the MI Solar for All Pilot Award that was announced last week. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy selected eight communities statewide for the solar pilots using federal money left over from the Biden administration.
Speaking Monday, Benton Harbor City Manager Alex Little said the plan is to use some of this grant to move ahead with projects that would have been paid for with a now-rescinded $20 million EPA grant. That includes creating a resiliency center at the Bobo Brazil Community Center.
“And to do that, we’ll try to put battery storage there that can hold enough energy that if there’s a major outage, that we would be able to provide refrigeration and heat and are cool or whatever for X number of people on the floor that we’re using as a resiliency center,” Little said. “So we’ll keep everybody posted as to exactly what’s happening and how this goes, but they made it clear they want us to move very fast on this.”
The commission’s resolution says the plan is also to add solar power at city hall, the water plant, and Bobo Brazil. Commissioner Juanita Henry asked Little if the grant can be used to roll out solar to non-city properties, and Little said this is strictly for city-owned facilities.
The ultimate goal is to reduce utility costs for low income residents.
