Clean Energy Project:
Access MI Solar
We are excited to announce that the Access MI Solar program is now available in both the Petoskey and Traverse City areas! Homeowners and businesses within a
40-mile radius of either city are eligible to participate, meaning a generous swath of northwest Lower Michigan from the Mackinac Bridge to Manistee!
Learn more about the Access MI Solar Program by watching the webinar recording!
2025 sign-up is now open thru May 31, 2025! Have an estimate prepared for your home or business. REGISTER HERE.
Groundwork is committed to increasing access to affordable solar energy in Northern Michigan. Through our group-buy program, Access MI Solar, we plan to increase local solar capacity, advance clean energy education, and work with community leaders to make this program a pillar of our region.
We remain committed to supporting local solutions to the climate crisis, increasing our region's energy security and resilience, and helping homeowners and small businesses to afford solar panels. Plus, going solar saves many customers significantly on their electric bill over time! Together, we are empowering people to develop local, clean energy, and climate solutions!
The process is simple: The chosen installer will offer a higher discount as more customers join the group-buy effort, with a maximum possible discount of 10% on the hardware costs of the solar installation.
Signing up in no way obligates you to sign a contract with the installer. That will be your decision to make later when/if you are ready.
Solar panels have made remarkable strides in both efficiency and affordability in recent years. While there’s some uncertainty around IRA funding for solar projects, one thing is crystal clear: the destructive toll of fossil fuels on our planet is undeniable, and its consequences will echo through generations to come. The time to act is now. The longer we wait, the greater the cost—both to our environment and to future generations.
GET INVOLVED!
Resources
inspiration!
Clean Energy Stories
“Thank you so much for helping raise all of the funds for our solar project at Westwoods! Thanks to you, we reached our goal so much more quickly than I'd expected. So now I can move on to other things including other solar projects...”
— Nicola Philpott, President, Parent Teacher Organization, Westwoods Elementary School, Traverse City Area Public Schools
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?
Access MI Solar News
Grand Traverse PACE Could Boost Made-in-TC Classroom Heater
Several area entrepreneurs say they see another way to use PACE-which stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy and treats the loans, which are private, like property taxes. They believe PACE can help them grow their companies, which are manufacturing and selling a brand-new, innovative, high-efficiency classroom heater and ventilator known as Aristotle Air.
Say ‘Yah’ to da U.P.’s Sunshine, eh?
Abhilash Kantamneni, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Michigan Technological University, has an unexpected, spot-on message for Michiganders living in the cold, snowy, and, when it comes to energy costs, pricey Upper Peninsula: There is a large, untapped, economically smart opportunity to develop rooftop solar systems for homes and small businesses in the U.P.
High School Senior Helps More Than 50 People Attend NYC Climate March
When she was a high school sophomore, Jane Lively rode the bus from Traverse City to Washington, D.C., with 55 other concerned citizens to join the February 2013 Forward on Climate rally. Now, 20 months later, Lively, a senior at Glen Lake High School and the daughter of Jim Lively, MLUI’s program director, is even more involved in the battle against climate change.