With fall sun beaming down over the east side, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, community members and DTE leadership celebrated the groundbreaking of a sprawling solar array project near the city airport Monday afternoon
In total, DTE and Boston-based Lightstar Renewables will build 165 acres of solar fields on large swaths of vacant and blighted land. The city says the field will generate enough clean energy to power 127 city municipal buildings.
More than fifty people were in attendance for Monday’s press event featuring DTE Energy president and CEO Joi Harris, Duggan and pre-selected members of the community who said the vacant and blighted land was laying empty until the solar farm project.
In total, the project will transform fields in ten neighborhoods where there was widespread community support.
Community members and nearby neighbors who spoke at the press conference ahead of the construction for the Van Dyke/Lynch neighborhood project said they welcome the type of investment. Activation of the solar field there is expected in summer 2026.
Van Dyke/Lynch resident Dorothy Gladney, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years, told Michigan Chronicle when she moved in, the community was beautiful.
“I mean, the houses, the community, the people — all of a sudden I look around and houses are falling down, nobody wants to cut the lawn or do anything,” Gladney said. “I said, ‘I’m going back to Alabama.'”
Gladney said she is glad she waited to see what would happen to her neighborhood that she says has been cleaned up in preparation of the incoming solar field.
Sandra Turner Handy, who lives on Flanders off Houston Whittier says her backyard is about to transform into a solar park.
“I’m so excited about it, it starts right in the back of my house,” Handy told Michigan Chronicle.
The Gratiot Findlay and State Fair neighborhood is another part of the first phase of construction slated to begin early next year by Lightstar Renewables. There are five neighborhood solar parks planned as part of the project, including Gratiot Findlay, State Fair, Greenfield Park, Houston Whittier, and Van Dyke Lynch.
Resident Haley Henley said the solar project saved her. She says she didn’t have electricity running into her kitchen until receiving help from the city and DTE as part of the project. She’s staying in her home nearby as the project gets started.
Tammy Black, a solar instructor and the owner of the Communities Power Solar Training Academy, credits DTE for helping fund her school aimed toward inclusive solar training for students and people with disabilities.
Black told Michigan Chronicle she’s helping teach community members how to do home assessments, work as ground crew and have an awareness of how solar energy works.
Once up and running, the solar field will deliver around 10 megawatts of solar energy onto the city’s electrical grid, Harris said. The energy output will help offset energy that is required to power city buildings, fire and police stations.
The solar arrays will also feature beautiful new landscaping selected by neighbors.
Some neighbors reached agreements with the city for their homes or property to be included in the solar parks, while others received eminent domain lawsuits. The city justified filing nearly 100 lawsuits, saying in a statement to the Detroit Free Press last year the eminent domain suits represented less than 10% of the parcels acquired for the project.
The city said that owners of 21 occupied houses signed an agreement to sell their homes and move in exchange for $90,000.
“People who did get bought out, a lot of them are staying in the city of Detroit while changing their quality of life, people’s whole trajectories,” District 3 Councilman Scott Benson told Michigan Chronicle at the press conference Monday. “Some of those houses were not worth how much homeowners received.”
Owner-occupied homes in each solar neighborhood were eligible to receive between $15,000 and $25,000 per house for energy efficiency upgrades with the help of DTE, with the amount depending on how many acres of solar their neighborhood generates. These improvements include roof repairs, windows, furnaces, hot water heaters and more.
The city says nearly 250 households have taken advantage of the program, including 65 in Van Dyke Lynch.
“Everything has to come with controversy, but when we selected DTE as one of the two finalists, there was some skepticism that DTE was completely committed to solar energy,” Duggan said. “What we have seen here is remarkable. They work with great speed.”
Byron Osbern of IBEW Local 58 told Michigan Chronicle that he understands the opposition to DTE’s involvement. Osbern and members of the electrical workers union —who were tapped to install the solar panels for the project — were invited to speak at the podium by Duggan.
“I get the pushback, because ultimately what you would like to see is some relief from energy bills,” Osbern said. “I’ve heard some people say they want it to directly affect their bill, but it’s going to the city… But the key is jobs this project is creating — it’s huge.”
