Inovateus has enjoyed some solid local and regional media coverage over the past several years. We’re keen on getting the good word out about solar in our own area, so we’re happy when Midwest-based journalists write about what we’re doing or include us as sources in their stories.
The latest local news coverage focuses on our project at Michigan State University (MSU), where we are preparing to begin construction on 13 megawatts of solarized parking canopies. Equipped with more than 40,000 solar panels, the custom-built arrays will be located in five locations on the south end of the now-coal-free campus and will comprise one of the largest such collections of photovoltaic parking arrays at any U.S. university.
As the MSU story in the Midwest Energy News notes, the university’s board of trustees approved the project back in September 2015. But we’ve had to deal with some property tax abatement issues that have delayed the start of construction.
“Clean energy groups say the project sheds light on Michigan’s outdated and patchwork tax policy when it comes to renewable energy projects,” the article says, “particularly in assessing the value of solar installations and how much in taxes should be paid on the equipment.”
Thankfully, the East Lansing City Council recently approved an amended version of the tax abatement proposal, and with those tax issues solved, we’re moving forward with this exciting project.
Not only will Inovateus be managing the design, engineering, procurement and construction of the MSU solar canopies, but we will have some skin in the game as co-owners of the systems and will sell the power generated to the school under the terms of a power purchase agreement.
When I participated in a panel on “MSU’s Energy Future,” along with university president Lou Anna K. Simon, other educators and businesspeople earlier this year, the vision of arrays of solar canopies on campus was still just that, a vision. I’m really excited to start seeing that vision turn into reality in the coming months.
By TJ Kanczuzewski, president of Inovateus Solar
