Traverse City Light and Power Approves Solar Canopy, Battery Storage at Hall Street Center
A $248,065 solar canopy contract turns the Hall Street parking lot into a live clean-energy classroom for Traverse City.
The parking lot at Traverse City Light and Power's Hall Street customer service center is about to pull double duty. The TCLP board voted March 20 to award a $248,065 contract to Keen Technical Solutions of Traverse City to install a 46.4 kW solar canopy and 15 kWh battery storage system over the existing paved lot at 130 Hall Street, converting impervious asphalt into what the utility calls a dual-purpose clean energy asset.
The canopy will carry 78 bifacial solar modules mounted on a cantilever structure, a design chosen specifically to keep the lot fully open to vehicles, emergency equipment and snow removal crews. That last consideration matters in northern Michigan winters, and TCLP noted the cantilever configuration addresses it without compromising the system's generating capacity.
Inside the customer service center, an interactive kiosk will display live production and performance data so visitors can watch the system work in real time. TCLP described the installation as a working demonstration intended to help area residents, businesses and nonprofits understand how solar generation and battery storage function together in a local setting.
The project carries an explicit workforce development mission alongside its public education role. TCLP personnel will use the Hall Street site as a hands-on training ground for operating, maintaining and troubleshooting solar and battery equipment. Data collected at the site will feed into the utility's intelligence platform, giving the utility operational knowledge to inform future clean-energy decisions.
Officials acknowledged the 46.4 kW system is modest in scale but framed it as a catalyst: a proof of concept for putting parking areas and other hard surfaces throughout the city to work generating electricity and reducing emissions. The project aligns with TCLP strategic priorities that include environmental sustainability, technology transition and customer experience.
Keen Technical Solutions, also referenced in some coverage as KEEN Technical Solutions, is a Traverse City-based contractor. The $248,065 contract figure was reported by the Traverse City Record-Eagle; other outlets characterized the project as costing nearly a quarter million dollars.
The broader municipal push toward solar and battery storage predates this specific project. The City of Traverse City separately received a $1,685,479 Michigan Public Service Commission Low Carbon Infrastructure grant for a solar and battery installation planned for rooftops at the city's Wastewater Treatment Plant, an effort developed with engineering firm Jacobs and TCLP. That grant is not tied to the Hall Street canopy, but it reflects the same institutional momentum. TCLP Executive Director Brandie Ekren, commenting on the city's larger solar and storage ambitions, said pairing energy storage with renewable generation "will allow us to receive the benefit of solar energy when the sun is not shining."
No installation timeline has been announced for the Hall Street project.
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