The purpose of this website is to provide a map of the various locations where solar power is being generated within the City of Ypsilanti. It is maintained with volunteer labor by supporters of SolarYpsi. Our goal is to provide a means for viewing how much solar power is being generated within the City at any given time. Dave Strenski is heading the efforts for the project.
SolarYpsi was launched in 2005 when the Ypsilanti Food Co-operative won a grant from theState of Michigan to install a small demonstration solar photovoltaic system on their roof. Volunteers installed a 4 panel, 760-watt system on the roof, along with digital EnergyViewers on a wall in the store, which display how much energy is being generated.
As part of this initial grant, Ypsi Food Coop volunteers created a traveling educational presentation to explain how solar power works in Michigan, and the advantages of tying solar installation into the local electricity grid. Through a grant administered by Recycle Ann Arbor, the Ypsi Food Coop was able to raise additional funds by making this solar energy presentation widely available to the general public, such that in 2007 we were able to purchase a fifth panel for the Co-operative. To date over a thousand people have attended these presentations, and the response has stimulated ideas and planning for new projects, along with new requests for presentations. If you would like to schedule a presentation for your group of 15 or more, contact the Ypsi Food Coop at 734-483-1520.
Meanwhile, with the help of DTE Energy, the Ypsi Food Coop completed the installation of all the necessary hardware to connect its system to the electrical grid, and was among the first solar power generators in Michigan with a net-metering arrangement. Net-metering allows solar power systems to export excess power back to the local utility for credit, which can be used when the sun is not shining. We were also able to install utility meters that can be monitored remotely to provide data to this website.
2008 saw the Ypsi Food Coop win two more grants from the State of Michigan. The first was to install 12 solar panels to the back of Ypsilanti’s City Hall building, and to install an additional 7 panels to the Ypsi Food Coop. Adding the seven panels to the Ypsi Food Coop was completed in 2009, and now has a total of twelve 190 watt panels generating 2.3 KW of solar power. The City Hall project was completed in the spring of 2010 with twelve 205 watt panels for a 2.5 KW system. Both projects are connected to the utility grid with net-metering and exports excess power when available. Both locations are also collecting real time data about the power being generated, consumed, and exported from these locations and displaying it on the SolarYpsi website.
The second 2008 grant was to fund the installation of 30 panels at the River Street Bakery, making it 100% solar powered. That project was completed in the fall of 2010 by SolarYpsi volunteers and is also connected to the utility grid and has real time monitoring.
In 2009 the project brought in Dr. William Sverdlik from the Computer Science Department ofEastern Michigan University and his student Nik Estep to work on the remote monitoring of the initial Ypsi Food Coop’s solar installation. This work has produced the live data monitoring that is currently available on this website at 4 different locations in Ypsilanti. Data will be available from other sites as they get installed.
2009 also saw the start of the DTE Energy Solar Currents program that created incentives for solar power generations. The program paid $2.40 per installed watt of solar panels and an additional $0.11 per KWH generated over the next 20 years. The Ypsi Food Coop, City Hall, and River Street Bakery all took advantage of this program to generate additional funds for energy conservation and future solar projects. Unfortunately this program quickly reached its quota and is currently closed.
SolarYpsi has also worked with the local elementary school, Adams S.T.E.M Academy, to complete the application for a solar installation from the Michigan Renewable Schools Programin 2010. They were selected and ten 240 watt panels were installed in the spring of 2011, producing 2.4 KW of solar power. The system was installed by the solar contractor Windemuller. Through the summer of 2011 SolarYpsi worked with the school and DTE Energy to install the monitoring laptop to display their data on the SolarYpsi website.
The number of solar installations continues to grow in Ypsilanti. Independent of SolarYpsi, in the summer of 2011 a house on South Huron, with three apartment units installed 55 solar panels. The installer of the system was Oak Electric and included the building of a carport to house many of the panels. The fall of 2011 also saw the Corner Brewery win approval from the Ypsilanti Historic Commission to install 144 panels on their brewery on Norris Street. They hope to have that project completed by December of 2011. SolarYpsi is working with both these locations to put information about these installations on the website and track their power generation, consumption, and exportation in real time.
SolarYpsi welcomes your help to make Ypsilanti a “Solar Destination”. If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about how solar power works in Michigan, please contact us and “get on the map.”
