“A year ago, what you’d find atop the Green Rock Apartments complex in northeastern Minneapolis was a typical flat building roof baking in the sun. Today, an array of dozens of south-facing photovoltaic panels soak up that sunlight, providing the building with up to 30,000 kilowatts a year—or 100 percent of its electric needs.
The project, installed by local solar developer Adapana Solar Technologies, is part of Minneapolis’s push to decrease its carbon emissions while increasing the availability of affordable housing in the city. “We’re trying to address climate change,” says Patrick Hanlon, Minneapolis’s director of environmental programs. “At a local level where we’re focused, those solutions can also be an antidote to inequity.”
This is where the city’s 4d Affordable Housing Incentive Program, which provides tax incentives to landlords who set aside rent-controlled units, comes in. To sweeten the pot, building owners enrolled in the program can now also receive rebates from utilities and the city for installing solar installations and for efficiency upgrades.”
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Cosier, Susan. NRDC 30 March 2021.