Now
78°
Thu
80°
Fri
78°
South-southwest to southwest winds ramp up to 30 mph, waves to 6', dangerous currents & swimming conditions. Stay off all piers!
by Andrew Cordes,WSBT22Reporter
The City of Niles is getting a little greener. The city announced that they are building a new solar energy farm. (WSBT photo)
NILES, Mich. (WSBT) — The City of Niles is getting a little greener.
The city announced that they are building a new solar energy farm.
Public Act 235 is setting a new energy standard in the state of Michigan.
A project is in the works at the Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport. The city will use 50 acres of land for a new solar farm. They have been working on this project for several years and is prioritizing the power customers of Niles.
The airport comes in to play because one of the runways has been out of commission for some time.
The state of Michigan is mandating to have 60% renewable energy by 2035, which city leaders believe is a good development.
"Well, I think renewables are a good thing but the state's really kind of forcing your hand to get moving on it. You have an option, you can either generate power through renewables or purchase directly renewable power or buy renewable energy credits. And we really thought that if we're going to spend the money, we'd be better to spend it into an actual facility rather than basically a paper document," said Huff.
The city wants to make sure residents understand that this project is not as big as it may seem and the preparation has been done to make sure it is done right.
"We did do a system study to understand what our limits may be. So, we are this [project] is a very small in the grand scheme things, a small project at 10 megawatts, and that's really about that. " Madison Mosher
The city sees this new mandate as a benefit as the state of Michigan is continually working towards a renewable energy future.
There is no word on when construction will begin.
2026 Sinclair, Inc.
