CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — Cuyahoga County’s microgrid project is slowly but surely growing since the program launched nearly 10 years ago. Director of Sustainability, Mike Foley, said the green wave is finally gaining momentum across the county, especially in cities like Lakewood, which just passed a climate action plan this week.
Solar panels don’t look like much. In and around Cleveland, most look like a parking lot cover. The understated tools, however, are mighty, turning sunlight, even on a cloudy day in Cleveland, into zero-carbon, no-cost electricity.
“Ohio is not great at that from the state, so we thought as a county if we can focus on that a little bit more, we can take up where the state has not done such a great job,” said Mike Foley, Director of Sustainability for Cuyahoga County since 2015.
Over the last 8 years, Cuyahoga County has helped install 45,000 solar panels. That’s over 5,600 panels a year. Foley said the next phase of the plan is installing solar panel microgrids in Brookpark and Euclid to funnel over 90% of electricity into renewable energy. The whole project will cost between $150 and $180 million and will take two and a half years to complete.
“These are our first two projects where we are going to develop these clean energy microgrids, so we will have industrial and some community customers basically and take some power off the grid, but we will be generating a lot locally,” said Foley.
The plans, though, could soon be benefiting first responder fleets, who are in constant need of resources and funds.
“We can do across boundary metering and we can put solar panels here and have that electricity run a building, a fire station here,” said Foley. “Or vice versa or could put a whole lot of solar panels on the roof of a fire station or police station and maybe that produces more electricity than that station uses. We can run that electricity to another customer over here.”
Retired Copley Township Fire Chief of 30 years, Michael Benson, has made it his mission to help transition northeast Ohio police and fire station fleets to use electric vehicles, install microgrids, as well as educate.
“Everyone assumes when they call 911 that there is going to be a response and they are able to respond, but even they have to cope with problems like not having any diesel available, not having gas available gas pumps being down, disasters situations,” said Benson. “So, we want to make sure your infrastructure in your municipality in your community is resilient.”
Independence Fire Chief Steve Rega has worked with Benson on educating crew members on electric vehicles and safety.
“Just trying to stay ahead to keep our firefighters safe,” said Rega.
Rega said it’s only a matter of time until electric fire trucks, police cruisers, and microgrids are the new normal.
“What’s intriguing about it is that you can set up systems where your building is generating power,” Rega added. “And other buildings are generating power on your campus and then, in a certain way, you have that mini-grid that could hold down your costs for residents. We are constantly changing and evolving with the conditions out there. I think it’s inevitable we will get involved with electric vehicles."
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