As climate shifts, Cincinnati mayor boosts solar investments

Cincinnati may seem an unlikely location for the nation’s largest city-owned solar array. But when Mayor John Cranley announced last year that he intended to create just that, the plan was in many ways a natural fit. Over the past decade, the Ohio city has taken increasingly aggressive steps to decarbonize its energy supply – and it’s seeing impressive results.

February 2018 flooding in downtown Cincinnati. 

Unusual weather patterns have added new urgency to these efforts.

“Over the last few years we’ve seen a surge in major storm events that’s triggered a rash of stormwater related issues – sewer backups, flash flooding, landslides,” said Oliver Kroner, who works in the city’s Office of Environment and Sustainability. “We’ve even had some river flooding just over the last couple of weeks for the first time since 1997.”

Last year, the city spent $50 million responding to storm-related issues.

Read the Yale Climate Connections story by Sarah Wesseler - “As climate shifts, Cincinnati mayor boosts solar investments.”