Project will transform self-selected Detroit neighborhoods to power the City and
fuel community revitalization
DETROIT, Aug. 8, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Lightstar, in collaboration with the
City of Detroit is excited to
announce the Lightstar contract was officially approved at the
recent City Council meeting in Detroit. The approval of the contract
represents a major threshold in the process to bring clean, locally
built, energy to Detroit's
neighborhoods, a first-in-the-nation effort. Lightstar and City
leaders are laying the groundwork for a future where Detroit leads the charge in urban
sustainability.
The contract approval is a step towards
bringing clean, locally built energy to Detroit, a first-of-its-kind initiative.
The successful vote is a testament to the teamwork,
responsiveness, and presence at numerous subcommittee and Council
meetings by the project team involved in this groundbreaking
initiative, aptly named "Locally-Sited Utility-Scale Solar."
Lightstar would like to extend gratitude to our local project
partners Jima Studio, Mannik Smith Group, and Elevate who join in
the excitement as this approval kick-starts the beginning of a
multi-phase endeavor aimed at intertwining the growth of solar
energy infrastructure with sustainable agricultural development in
partnership with Detroit's vibrant
communities.
"We are incredibly grateful for the support and teamwork that
made this approval possible," said Brianna
Fiorillo, Policy & Strategy Manager, Midwest at
Lightstar who played a pivotal role in the successful
submission of the project RFP with the City and was on hand for the
approval to answer last-minute questions and provide policy
insight. " Lightstar and our partners are looking forward to
getting to know the neighbors through the neighborhood agreement
process and building a project together that the communities are
proud of."
Mayor Duggan's Statement on City Council's Approval of Solar
Neighborhood Plan
"With City Council's approval today of our Solar Neighborhood
program, Detroit has become a
national leader in the fight against climate change. And we did it
with the passionate support of the neighbors," said Mayor Duggan.
"We will begin to turn more than 100 acres of vacant, blighted land
in the State Fair, Gratiot/Findlay, and Van Dyke/Lynch neighborhoods into solar arrays
that will generate enough energy to power city buildings and
strengthen these neighborhoods. In Detroit, we don't just talk about addressing
climate change, we take action."
For more information about the "Locally-Sited Utility-Scale
Solar" project and upcoming community engagement opportunities,
please visit the official city project website at
https://detroitmi.gov/government/mayors-office/office-sustainability/solar-neighborhoods.
About Lightstar
Based in Boston, Lightstar is
an independent power producer (IPP) with a visionary approach to
the development, construction, and ownership of community solar
energy systems. Established in 2019, Lightstar has been at the
forefront of the clean energy transition, championing solar
solutions that benefit people, places, and our planet as a
long-term owner and operator of community solar farms across the
US. With a pipeline of over 1200 Megawatts (MWs) and growing,
Lightstar's mission is to build solar for the land and community,
stewarding the land and integrating local ecology and agriculture
with every project. The team at Lighstar is committed to leading
the global transition to sustainable energy with projects that
integrate seamlessly with local environments and benefit
communities.
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SOURCE Lightstar Renewables, LLC