Powered up: OU’s president house is first in state to be fully solar powered

Max Bryan, mbryan@detroitnews.com

In its push to lead Michigan’s higher education community in renewable energy, Oakland University has achieved a first in the state — and possibly, the country.

Three rows of solar panels with the OU logo on the front now sit outside near Sunset Terrace, President Ora Pescovitz’s campus home. Installed late last year and activated this year, the panels generate enough power to make the house the first building on campus to be fully solar powered. University officials believe it is the first university president’s house in Michigan, and possibly the country, to be fully solar powered

The installation of the panels is part of Oakland University’s effort to reach a net-zero carbon footprint by 2050, said Rafi Bayrakdarian, the college’s director of engineering.

“We’d like to reduce our carbon footprint as soon as we can, and we’re very aggressive about it. And I thought it would be important for me to serve as a good role model and an example,” said Pescovitz. “I live here, and this building is historic.”

Built in 1953, Sunset Terrace is the 11,400-square-feet former Rochester retirement home of auto heiress Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband Alfred. After OU was founded in 1957, it eventually became the university president’s home.

A series of floor-to-ceiling windows in Sunset Terrace’s living room now provide a view of the solar panels.

“What’s fantastic about this idea is that we are merging the old – it’s one of the oldest buildings on our campus – and something new,” Pescovitz said. “The concept that we’re making something fully sustainable is something I’m very proud of.”

The house isn’t the first building on campus to have solar panels. Pescovitz said the university’s human health building also has them on the roof. But it is the first to run entirely on solar, with a generator on site only as a backup.

Bayrakdarian, the engineering director, said Sunset Terrace made sense to be the first campus building that’s entirely solar powered because its HVAC systems were converted from natural gas to electric heat pumps three years ago.

“With this building, all the steps were already done, so all we needed was the last push,” he said.

The university began the push for solar power at Sunset Terrace in January 2024, when it requested proposals for the work. The project was designed and installed in the second half of 2024 and connected to the electrical grid in January, according to Bayrakdarian.

The project cost more than $300,000, which is expected to be reduced to $220,000 after a $95,000 federal energy investment tax credit from the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022.

It will save the university an estimated $16,000 annually, the university says.

The solar panels generate 112,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, which is enough to supply all of the home’s energy needs. The panels save roughly 80 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to the university.

Pescovitz, who has been OU’s president since 2017, said she didn’t even notice when her home became solar-powered.

“I couldn’t believe it myself, actually, that it was completely powering the house,” she said.

Pescovitz pointed out that the solar panels provide energy for other green initiatives within Sunset Terrace as well: her partner is able to charge his electric vehicle through the house without any issues.

Beyond the benefits of green energy, Pescovitz said she wanted to communicate to her students that OU takes environmental protection seriously. She said students “care a great deal” about the environment, and that the Sunset Terrace project relays to them the university’s goal to eliminate its carbon footprint.

Pescovitz added that Sunset Terrace is “not the last” building on campus that will be fully solar-powered.

“It’s our goal to continue to be that kind of a university,” she said.

To create a net-zero carbon footprint, university officials say they’re currently in the “optimization” phase, which will run through 2030. It includes installing a combustion air cooling system to increase turbine output during the summer months and replacing old hot water generators with two high-efficiency units. The university plans to install 5,000 kilowatts of solar generation from 2030-2040 and an additional 5,000 from 2040-2050.

“Our goal is to make every project — big or small — contribute to a cleaner, more efficient campus,” Bayrakdarian said in a university news release. “Sunset Terrace is just one more example of how we’re turning our sustainability goals into tangible results.