Shaker Heights has become the first city in Cuyahoga County to install solar power through the county's Solar Co-Op, outfitting its Department of Public Works Service Center with roughly 900 solar panels.
The county runs its Municipal and Commercial Solar Co-Op through Cuyahoga Green Energy, a program open to businesses, governments, and nonprofits, according to Cuyahoga County. That structure lets municipalities choose between power purchase agreements or outright ownership of their systems.
For the installation itself, the city turned to YellowLite, described as a local company that was chosen to lead the Shaker Heights project. Cleveland-based YellowLite completed a 544 kW commercial solar array spanning multiple Public Works buildings at the Service Center.
From a Small Police Department Pitch to a Citywide Project
The Service Center array wasn't the original plan. According to Shaker Heights Sustainability Committee minutes from September, the municipal solar initiative actually began as a much smaller proposal centered on the Police Department before it expanded into the larger Service Center project. That growth followed advocacy from City Council members, support from Mayor David Weiss, and the identification of available federal clean energy incentives, per the city's own records.
City Council authorized a solar development agreement worth up to $1,596,254 in May 2025 with 21C LLC, doing business as Compass Energy Platform, which then partnered with YellowLite to carry out the installation. The federal Inflation Reduction Act's Direct Pay provision and possible clean-energy tax credits were also discussed in connection with the project.
Grid Upgrades Pave the Way for Future EV Charging
Getting 900 panels connected to the grid required more than just the panels themselves. FirstEnergy was scheduled to upgrade the Service Center's transformer in April.
Part of a Wider County and Regional Push
Shaker Heights' project arrives as the broader residential and county solar effort keeps growing. Cuyahoga County and Solar United Neighbors have celebrated the 500th completed rooftop solar installation under the county's residential solar co-op initiative.
The county also built a 4-megawatt solar farm on a capped landfill in Brooklyn, Ohio, in 2018. Hoodline previously reported on how two proposed solar projects on old Cleveland landfills—one expected to supply airport operations and the other planned to feed the Cleveland Public Power grid could put the sites to use.
Shaker Heights is pursuing a solar project.
