‘Wow, that’s cool!’: North Minneapolis rental property reduces energy bills and pollution by installing solar + storage

In the Hawthorne neighborhood of North Minneapolis, a community surrounded by highways and industrial and chemical manufacturing plants, an affordable four-plex rental property across the street from Nellie Stone Elementary School is charting a new path forward.

Over the summer of 2025, with support from a CERTs Seed Grant, the property has now installed a 7.2kW rooftop solar array, and has plans to fully electrify and install a 30kWh battery energy storage system. Zahra Iliff, owner of the property, says the upgrades represent a demonstration for how to reduce energy costs and pollution while also maintaining power during frequent Northside blackouts and increasing awareness of the impact these kinds of projects can have for Northside communities overburdened by pollution, economic and power grid disinvestment, and energy burdened households.

This project is unique for the community, which to date has been underserved by solar and energy storage providers. These technologies, when combined with energy efficiency and weatherization to tighten up the leaky, typically older housing stock in neighborhoods like Hawthorne, have the potential to greatly reduce energy burden for Northside families. Iliff intentionally designed the system to pass through benefits to the residents of the property.

And once fully electrified, the house will provide pollution reduction benefits: improved air quality inside the home from the replacement of gas appliances that produce noxious gases like NOx; and greatly reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced to power the home. These are critical health and justice considerations for a predominantly Black community experiencing greater risks for asthma and premature death related to higher rates of particulate air pollution. “Our community doesn't deserve to live in a polluted environment because of previous discrimination against communities of color,” says Iliff.

When asked about the tenants’ reaction, Illif noted “It’s been very positive. They love it. One resident feels reassured that when power goes out in North Minneapolis like it has recently, they will have power.”