Project Overview

Cuyahoga County approved the power purchase agreement (PPA) for solar on County-owned buildings, including the Medical Examiner’s Office in Cleveland, the Animal Shelter in Valley View, and the Harvard Road Garage in Newburgh Heights. The Aggregated Solar Program enables these three buildings to produce around 10 percent of the facilities’ power needs, reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 940 tons, and can help achieve over $1 million of lifetime savings versus utility costs.

All installations were completed in Summer 2022. The solar panels are expected to yield a total of 1,147,000 kWh of energy. The panels account for 13 percent of the total load for the Animal Shelter, 3 percent for the Medical Examiner’s Office, and 25-30 percent for the Harvard Road Garage.

Under the Aggregated Solar Program, Youngstown-based Enerlogics Solar and Athens-based Kokosing Solar were selected through a competitive bid process as the developer and installation teams.

Legal structure: This competitively awarded bid includes a cooperative purchasing agreement, structure enables county facilities to save as much as 20 percent compared to current utility costs.

Permitting and interconnection experience:

• Animal Shelter: the State of Ohio, Interconnection CEI/First Energy
• Jane Edna Hunter: building-permits through the City of Cleveland. Interconnection with Cleveland Public Power
• Harvard Garage: Village of Newburgh Heights permitting. Interconnection with CEI/First Energy
• Medical Examiner’s Office: permits through the City of Cleveland. Interconnection with Cleveland Public Power.

Locations: Cleveland, Newburgh Heights, Valley View, Ohio

System Size: In total, 1706 kW DC Roof mounted solar across 4 Cuyahoga County-owned facilities

Completed: 2022