Detroit breaks ground on ambitious solar field project
Posted By: The Detroit News on October 27, 2025. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
City officials gathered on a sunny Monday afternoon in Detroit’s Van Dyke/Lynch neighborhood, where they broke ground on the first of five highly-anticipated solar fields.
“It’s a perfect day for solar energy,” Mayor Mike Duggan said during a ceremony near the corner of Elgin and Gilbo streets on the city’s east side, in the heart of what will be a 42-acre solar field.
A total of five neighborhoods are set to receive solar fields including Gratiot Findlay, State Fair, Greenfield Park, Houston Whittier and Van Dyke Lynch.
This work is a part of the Solar Neighborhoods initiative, through which 165 acres of blighted, vacant land throughout the city will be converted into solar array fields that city officials say will completely offset energy costs for 127 municipal buildings around Detroit.
City Councilman Scott Benson, whose District 3 includes the new solar field, called the groundbreaking a “powerful, tangible step toward achieving (the city’s) climate goals.”
The solar fields will collectively encompass what had been 1,400 individual properties, officials have said. Most of the land was already owned by the city or the Detroit Land Bank when officials started planning.
The rest of the properties are being either purchased by the city or obtained through the courts. The city said homeowners were paid twice the fair market value of their home or $90,000, whichever was higher, so they city could tear them down to make room for the solar fields. Renters were given $15,000 to relocate, city officials said.
“We basically had only one occupant every block or two,” Duggan said of the Van Dyke-Lynch solar field area. “If you had come down here six months ago (there was) illegal dumping, other illegal activities. It was not a safe place to be.”
Haley Henley, a longtime resident of Van Dyke-Lynch, helped collect signatures to bring the solar project to her neighborhood.
She called Monday’s ceremony “a day worth waiting for” and said looking around and seeing her neighborhood free of blight and poised for development “a sight to behold. It really is.”
The array is roughly bound by Wisner Avenue to the north, Gilbo Avenue to the east, Lyford Avenue to the south and Castle Avenue to the west. Once up and running, the array will deliver approximately 10 megawatts of solar energy onto the city’s electrical grid.
Joi Harris, president and chief executive officer for DTE Energy, called that “enough clean energy that will help offset power that is required to power the city buildings, recreation centers, police and fire stations.”
Harris said construction on the second of the five solar fields, in the Greenfield Park neighborhood, is anticipated to begin sometime next year. The city chose DTE to develop the solar fields.
DTE has solicited community input regarding the appearance of the solar park.
“We will beautify the solar park with trees, shrubs and other landscaping including a welcome sign to ensure neighbors see that this is a wonderful, wonderful addition to the community,” Harris said.
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