The City of Kalamazoo has earned a “Bronze” designation from SolSmart, a national program that helps municipalities, counties, and regional organizations to become solar energy leaders. The Bronze designation shows that Kalamazoo meets national best practices to increase energy options in the community and promote actions to help make solar energy more affordable and accessible.
SolSmart is led by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. Over 500 cities, towns, counties, and regional organizations have achieved SolSmart designation since the program launched in 2016.
“It is an honor to receive the Bronze designation from SolSmart, which recognizes our initial step of helping the Kalamazoo community become more resilient and sustainable,” said Justin Gish, sustainability planner for the City of Kalamazoo. “The City of Kalamazoo is looking at ways to make it easier for residents to install solar panels on their homes. Working with SolSmart helps us streamline the permitting process so that residents can face fewer obstacles as they make their homes more sustainable. Our goal is to attain Platinum and increase our path toward complete sustainability.”
Local governments achieve SolSmart designation by meeting established criteria that are based on national best practices for building solar-friendly communities. SolSmart experts provide no-cost technical assistance and resources to help communities put best practices into action. Those that meet the criteria are designated SolSmart Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Bronze.
To achieve the Bronze designation, the City of Kalamazoo has trained permitting and inspection staff on best practices for permitting solar energy and solar-plus storage systems. The City of Kalamazoo also is working toward a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2023, the City completed two initial Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reports, looking at emissions across three Scopes: Scope 1 emissions coming directly from City activity; Scope 2 representing indirect emissions produced by purchased electricity; and Scope 3 emissions tied to a City of Kalamazoo activity but owned or controlled by a separate entity.
Among the strategies for reducing Scope 2 emissions is to implement community zoning projects as well as turning to other options to reduce such emissions. In September, the Kalamazoo City Commission voted unanimously to enter a 20-year renewable energy contract with Consumers Energy to power municipal activities entirely on renewable energy. Doing so could save the City of Kalamazoo over $6 million in the next 20 years, depending on future renewable energy costs.
The City of Kalamazoo also is applying for a federal grant to install a solar parking lot in front of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety building on Crosstown Parkway. The proposed solar parking lot would generate 150kW of energy and would meet the demand of 7 percent of the building’s energy use.
SolSmart designees are now in 44 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Any city, town, county, and regional organization is eligible to join the program.