Harnessing Solar Energy in Cleveland

Feb 08, 2021

Our reliance on fossil fuels is not sustainable.  Our best path to renewables includes solar energy – and the City of Cleveland has launched two innovative initiatives to investigate its feasibility and move forward with installing.

It is good news to know that the President Biden, and his administration in Washington, D.C., have embraced the financial and environmental benefits of solar – and other renewable sources - for the entire nation, setting real and ambitious goals to make our energy sector carbon free.

In May of 2019, I commissioned an extensive “solar site assessment” as part of Cleveland’s aspiration to be a “Green City on a Blue Lake.”

The project team initially marked more than 200 city-owned sites, then narrowed them to 20 as the most promising places to harness solar rays through free-standing panels. Solar structures over city-owned surface parking lots are some of the most promising sites identified.

Meanwhile, the Jackson administration has been studying roof tops on municipal buildings as possible places for sun-catching panels.

And City Council’s solar project team has determined that there is enough annual daylight in Cleveland to generate electricity at viable rates. Legislation to move forward on solar installation on rooftops, over structures and fallow land, was recently introduced.

We are moving ahead along the path to renewable energies. The continued use of fossil fuels is not sustainable, and it jeopardizes the very life of our planet.

Unfortunately, the political climate for renewable energy in Ohio has not been welcoming. Other states are racing ahead of us, to our economic detriment, adding new jobs and investments and industry in this arena.

There are about 268 companies in Ohio providing jobs in the solar industry, with 105 of those companies that manufacture goods across the supply chain – from the polysilicon that many photovoltaic panels are comprised of to the racking systems used to install solar panels.

However, there are positive signs as renewable energies – solar and wind – continue to expand and to show that they are clean, viable sources of electric power.

The Ohio Power Siting Board has approved seven solar projects in the state, three of which are currently under construction.

One project, a 200-megawatt installation near Cincinnati, is employing several hundred workers to erect its 600,000 solar panels. The project has pumped millions of dollars into the local economy.

The cost of solar installations is initially high but falling. Costs have dropped by 45% over the last 5 years, according to the solar industry. But solar technology is constantly advancing – and improvements will intensify and likely bring down the costs in the future.

And the sun’s rays are free and solar energy systems are typically low maintenance, requiring minimal annual cleaning, with no moving parts, and little wear and tear.

Solar energy can be used for diverse purposes besides generating electricity, for example where installations cover surface parking lots, charging stations for electric cars can be added. Increasingly, solar energy is being integrated into building materials (e.g., roof shingles, wall claddings, windows).

We are seeing more and more advances in solar power technology, making it more affordable and more sensible.

We cannot afford not to invest in solar power. Life depends on it.

Kevin Kelley, Council President, wrote this and it was published in Crains Cleveland Business