May 18 marked the beginning of the Ann Arbor Sustainable Energy Utility’s pilot program, with the city’s first installation of solar panels and battery storage systems taking place in the Bryant neighborhood. The SEU is a new voluntary renewable energy program operated by the city of Ann Arbor, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2024. 

Prof. Mike Shriberg, director of the University of Michigan Water Center, previously led an interdisciplinary program with the U-M Law School Problem Solving Initiative to prepare a report assessing the feasibility of the SEU. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Shriberg said the SEU’s public nature allows it to work in the best interest of the community. 

“When the utility is owned by the city — when it’s public — the motivation is in the public interest, not just the interest of the private utility,” Shriberg said. “So, the biggest thing is that there’s not a profit motivation; there’s a community benefit to it.”

The pilot program received grant support from the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. SEU executive director Shoshannah Lenski said certain upgrades are exclusively available to Bryant neighborhood residents due to the program’s funding structure.

“Let me clarify that all things like insulation, windows, roofing and appliance upgrades are a unique offering for the Bryant neighborhood,” Lenski said. “That’s because the grant funding is dedicated to this pilot, and this is a neighborhood that had historically been disinvested from and is in need of support from the city and from other agencies and contributors to help out, and so that’s why the grant funding is specifically in this neighborhood.”

Myles Burchill, U-M alum and Bryant resident, signed up to participate in the pilot program in order to have his roof replaced and solar panels installed. Burchill told The Daily the upgrades to his home would reduce his monthly utility bills and would be maintained by the city at no additional cost.

“I forget the exact number; they did some cost estimating, but hopefully (this will save me) between 25 and 50 bucks a month,” Burchill said.“Then if there are any problems with the panels, it is totally on the city, because the city owns the panels.”

Lenski said the program is working toward the development of a microgrid, which would allow homes and businesses generating excess power to sell the energy back to the SEU or share it with other connected properties.

“We have the right to build wires that would allow one home or business or a school that produces more energy on site than it needs to serve its own load … it could share that excess energy across property lines with neighbors,” Lenski said. “Right now, folks who generate more energy than they need, they can sell the excess back to DTE, but we’re working on an option where they could essentially sell it to the SEU to deliver to their neighbor.”

However, Lenski said the complexity of the microgrid’s design prevents its immediate widespread adoption.

“This is complex from both a technical engineering perspective and from a business model perspective,” Lenski said. “I don’t want people to get their hopes up — that if they have solar, they can start sharing it with their neighbor next year. It will take us a few years to get ready for that element of the SEU.”

While more than 1,400 people signed up for the program’s interest form, Lenski said the SEU currently doesn’t have the capacity to meet such demand.

“What we are trying to (do) right now is ensure that we have the capacity to serve as many people as want to join, and we might not be able to do that all in year one,” Lenski said. “We do have to build this muscle, but my intent is that we grow that capacity so that as new people want to be served, they can be served right away.” 

While the SEU project still faces many challenges, it is well received within the Bryant neighborhood and the greater Ann Arbor community. According to Lenski, overall community interest is much broader than just those who have signed the interest form.

“Any city in Michigan can do this, can build its own energy infrastructure (and) not have to acquire the energy infrastructure of DTE,” Shriberg said. “So, in other words, you can build the grid and the energy of the future without being saddled with the energy infrastructure in the past.”

Daily News Contributor Hongshu Wang can be reached at hongshuw@umich.edu.