“Milwaukee Shines” is the name of Milwaukee’s Solar America Cities project. In March, 2008, Milwaukee was selected by the U.S Department of Energy to be one of 25 Solar America Cities. This award is intended to accelerate solar adoption in cities by supporting innovative local efforts with both financial and technical assistance. As a Solar America City, Milwaukee will launch a comprehensive, citywide approach to promoting the adoption of solar energy (solar electricity and solar hot water).

Milwaukee was chosen as a Solar America City because of its commitment in pursuing a holistic approach to promoting the use of solar technologies and developing a sustainable solar infrastructure. The Milwaukee Shines team works to reduce barriers to solar energy implementation—informational, economic, and procedural.  A few of our goals are to support industry development by creating a robust local workforce; increase the number of solar installers through certification training; increase the capacity of municipal inspectors, increase the number of solar installations, and encourage solar manufacturing businesses to locate in the city.

Milwaukee Shines is led by the City of Milwaukee’s Office of Environmental Sustainability. Project partners include We Energies, Focus on Energy, Johnson Controls, Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC).

In October 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Milwaukee Shines won a competitve "special projects" award and will receive an additional $660,543 in continued funding to support and transform Milwaukee's solar market.  Under this new award, additional stakeholders have emerged including Caleffi, Milwaukee County, Housing Authority for City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee 7, Office of Energy Independence, Milwaukee Boys and Girls Club, Milwaukee James Madison High School, and Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board.  See below links for more information on the two U.S. Department of Energy awards.