A new Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden project will benefit the Zoo and the community. Earlier this month, the Zoo broke ground on a new solar array in its Euclid Avenue Parking Lot. The array will provide shade to cars visiting the Zoo’s campus in Uptown Cincinnati, and it will help the Zoo reach its Net Zero energy goals by next year.
At the official groundbreaking ceremony on February 14, 2024, the Cincinnati Zoo’s Vice President of Facilities and Sustainability, Mark Fisher, told a crowd of stakeholders that the new array will take up less space but generate almost twice as much power as the array on Vine Street. This means two-thirds of the Zoo’s electricity will come from its parking lots.
Fisher also explained the Zoo ordered extra solar panels to make a full container of panels instead of paying to ship a half-empty crate to the Zoo. The Zoo is donating the extra panels to its Community Solar Resiliency Program (CSRP), which will eventually be used to install arrays in Avondale, East Price Hill and Bond Hill. Fisher said the Zoo wants to share the benefits of solar power with the community.
“In addition to providing power and building smaller arrays at churches, community centers and schools around town, our hope is that just seeing, and parking under, our big arrays will inspire Zoo visitors to install solar panels at home,” he said.
Rendering Courtesy: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
This is the second solar array installed at the Zoo since the initial array was installed in 2011 at the Vine Street Parking Lot, across the street from the Zoo's entrance. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is an anchor Member of Uptown Consortium, Inc. (UCI). UCI invested $5.2 million in New Markets Tax Credits into that project, which eliminates 1,775 tons of CO2 emissions annually by replacing coal-fired power with clean solar energy.
Over the past 13 years, the Zoo has been able to spend many days “off the grid” since the 1.56 MW Melink Solar array was installed. The new array is slightly larger at 2.8 MW and is also from the Cincinnati-based solar company.
UCI’s president & CEO Beth Robinson, attended the groundbreaking to support the Zoo’s sustainability efforts with the new solar array.
“The Zoo’s commitment to going Net Zero by 2025 is an ambitious undertaking met by innovative ideas from Mark Fisher, Thayne Maynard and other Zoo leaders who have been committed to it for over a decade. The solar panels provide a unique experience when visitors arrive at the Zoo and are examples of an organization doing its part to better itself and the broader community. The fact that the Zoo intentionally ordered extra solar panels to share is a testament to the mission of all of UCI’s members and our vision for Uptown’s future, and, by extension, our region’s future,” Robinson said.
To learn more about the Zoo’s commitment to sustainability and its solar array projects, visit the Zoo’s web page. The Zoo is open to visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.