Sterling Heights will put solar panels on five city buildings, betting on federal credits to cover half the $3.1 million cost

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — Sterling Heights is putting solar panels on the roofs of five city buildings, a project that city staff say will pay for itself in about eight years if federal tax credits come through.

On Sept. 1, the City Council approved a $2,033,600 contract with Harvest Solar of Jackson for rooftop arrays on City Hall, the police department, the public library and the community center, according to council minutes. On Sept. 15, it added a $1,071,000 installation at the Department of Public Works building at 7200 18 Mile Road. Together, the contracts total about $3.1 million.

The city expects federal clean-energy payments to cover about half the cost, Sustainability Planner Alexis Weinberg told the council: 30% in base tax credits, 10% for using domestic content and 10% for being designated an energy community. For the first four buildings, that leaves a net cost of about $1.02 million from capital reserves. The credits depend on finishing the work by Dec. 31, 2027.

Weinberg said the city spent about $267,000 on electricity for the four original buildings in 2022 and about $339,000 in 2024, a 27% increase while use rose about 10%. The arrays are expected to offset about 30% of electricity use on the City Hall campus and 46% at the community center, and to save at least $5.4 million over their lifetime, assuming power prices rise about 5% a year. The panels will not sell power back to the grid or store it in batteries.

Councilman Michael Radtke pushed to add the DPW building, which he said made fiscal sense if it could be finished in time for the credits. At the Sept. 15 meeting, the chair of the city's Sustainability Commission urged approval, while resident Paul Smith argued Michigan's limited winter sunlight makes solar "an ineffective use of taxpayer funds," according to the minutes.

The project supports the climate action plan the city adopted in 2025, which aims to cut emissions from city operations in half by 2030. Taxpayers will be able to judge the results against the projections: the savings estimate depends on future DTE rates, and the 50% reimbursement depends on meeting the federal deadline.

Sources:
City of Sterling Heights, “Minutes of Regular Meeting of City Council,” Sept. 1, 2026, https://sterlingheights.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09012026-3103
City of Sterling Heights, “Minutes of Regular Meeting of City Council,” Sept. 15, 2026, https://sterlingheights.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09152026-3104
MLive, “Sterling Heights expects $5.4M savings from new solar installations,” September 2026, https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2026/09/sterling-heights-expects-54m-savings-from-new-solar-installations.html
Photo: Ajay Suresh, “Sterling Heights, Michigan (55432151078).jpg,” July 29, 2026, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sterling_Heights,_Michigan_(55432151078).jpg

Sterling Heights

Tags: Sterling Heights · Solar Energy · City Council · Energy Costs · Government Spending