One Cup Car Wash Solar Project | Detroit

Rooftop Solar Panels

PROJECT COMPLETED

June 2026

PANELS

LOCATION

Detroit, MI 48206

(Detroit Solar)

SYSTEM SIZE

13.2 kW DC

Project Overview

One Cup Car Wash and Detailing sits on the corner of Woodrow Wilson and Monterey in Detroit, and it is the first new commercial building on that stretch of Woodrow Wilson in about 40 years. It is a sustainability-focused wash from Cass Community Social Services, a Detroit nonprofit, and our team designed and installed the rooftop solar array that helps power it. The goal was straightforward: put clean energy to work on site for a mission-driven business, on a commercial roof built for a Michigan climate.

“”

— One Cup Car Wash

Detroit, MI

Project Planning

As a Detroit-based team, we design every system around the way buildings actually run through a Michigan year. For One Cup, that meant a roof-mounted array engineered for snow load and wind, flush-mounted low against the shingle roof, and tied into a commercial building’s electrical system without disrupting the operation below it. From design through installation, we handled the solar scope and coordinated the permitting and the DTE interconnection, working alongside a licensed electrical contractor on the wiring that ties the array into the building.

A few things that defined the build:

Roof-mounted 13.2 kW array, 40 panels flush-mounted to the asphalt shingle roof so they sit low and clean against the building

IronRidge XR100 racking on FlashFoot2 attachments, engineered to handle a 20 psf ground snow load and 115 mph wind per ASCE standards

Module-level optimizers on every panel, so shade or debris on one part of the array does not drag down the rest of it through a Michigan winter

Grid-tied system built around a SolarEdge 10 kW inverter, installed in the building’s second-floor electrical room

Commercial permitting and DTE interconnection coordinated start to finish, with a licensed electrical contractor handling the interconnection wiring, permit, and inspection

A Note on the Commercial Interconnection

Tying solar into a working commercial building takes more coordination than a typical home project. The array feeds the building’s main panel through a dedicated backfed breaker and a DTE-required disconnect, and the inverter lives in the second-floor electrical room rather than outside on a wall. We coordinated that interconnection with the building’s existing electrical design and with DTE so the system meets code and utility requirements, and so the car wash could run without interruption once it was energized.

Proposal & Design

This system was designed as a full commercial PV permit set for this specific building, covering the site plan, electrical plan, solar attachment plan, line diagram, and assembly details. The design accounts for the roof structure, the shingle surface, local snow and wind loads, and a grid-tied interconnection with DTE. On the equipment side, every panel runs its own optimizer for module-level performance, feeding a single SolarEdge inverter sized for the array.

PANELS

40-Panel Array

Hanwha Q-Cells Q.PEAK DUO-G7 · 330W each · 13.2 kW total

RACKING

IronRidge XR100 Flush Mount

FlashFoot2 attachments · 20 psf snow load and 115 mph wind

OPTIMIZERS

40 × SolarEdge S440

Module-level MPPT · 98.6% weighted efficiency

INVERTERS

SolarEdge SE10000H-US

10 kW · three-phase 120/208V · 97% CEC weighted efficiency

MOUNT / ROOF

Flush-Mounted to Asphalt Shingle

Low-profile roof-mounted array · sits clean against the building

TILT / AZIMUTH

18° Tilt · 200° Azimuth

South-southwest facing for strong year-round capture

Benefits & Impact

This 13.2 kW array generates clean power on the car wash roof, offsetting energy the building would otherwise pull from the grid and keeping more of Cass Community’s resources pointed at its mission. And the solar is one piece of a building designed around sustainability: One Cup cleans a vehicle with roughly a cup of water using steam and pressure, where a typical wash can use 10 to 100 gallons, and the site emits zero pollutants, collects rainwater for landscaping, and manages storm runoff with permeable pavers.

~100%

Consumption offset in year one

~14,800 kWh

Estimated clean energy generated annually

~350,000 kWh

Clean energy generated over 25 years

Over its 25-year life, this array is estimated to keep roughly 250 metric tons of CO2 out of the air, about the same as taking 54 gas-powered cars off the road for a year or planting around 4,100 tree seedlings. Based on EPA equivalency estimates.

Commercial solar can pair with financing and incentive programs in Michigan, and what applies depends on the project and current policy. See what is currently available.

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