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Cuyahoga County Launches Wind, Solar Initiative

Ideastream Public Media | By Kabir Bhatia

Published July 25, 2016 at 9:47 AM EDT

Cuyahoga County says the plan to buy wind energy at-cost would contribute to $2.5 million in savings over the next 25 years.

Cuyahoga County Council is considering a proposal to switch 15 county buildings to power generated by wind turbines in Lake Erie, which could save $2.5 million over the next 25 years.

The proposal from County Executive Armond Budish would allow Cleveland Public Power to sell energy from the wind turbines at-cost to the county for buildings including the Justice Center downtown. The utility is buying 25 percent of the power slated to come from the turbines, and a third of that would be passed on to the county starting in 2018.

The second part of the proposal would develop two solar farms on about 30 acres of brownfield sites, making Cuyahoga County one of the first in Ohio to repurpose landfills for solar farms. Budish estimates the projects will create about 500 jobs over 10 years.

The announcement comes at the same time as a new report from Environment Ohio on solar power, which ranks Ohio 29^th in the nation for solar-panels-per-capita.