Kalamazoo County buys solar field on Healy Street

Kalamazoo County is making efforts to build a greener future. The county board of commissioners voted to purchase a solar field.

"Last year we generated about 183,000 kilowatt hours. And the Healy Street building used about 241,000. So it roughly pays for 70% of the building's electricity," said Eric McNamara, director of buildings and grounds.

The solar field was built in 2020 as part of a lease program. McNamara says it was zero cost to the county upfront to have it installed. There was an option in the lease to buy it, which the county agreed to do in its July meeting.

"In owning it, the county will benefit somewhere between $400,000 to $600,000 over the life of the panels," he told FOX 17.

The panels have a 25-year warranty and will continue to produce energy. It's like a green home run.

"There's over 400 panels and it's adverting and collecting energy that normally might be produced by a coal plant, and it's averting about 9 million pounds of CO2 over its lifespan," he said. "The county is doing its master plan, it's coming up. And sustainability is one of the things they look at every time they do a project."

Buying the solar field will save taxpayers money, give back to the county budget, and save the environment.

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