CLEVELAND, Ohio--The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is about to flip the switch on one of Ohio's largest solar farms -- an installation of 4,212 energy-generating panels on six acres of a previously vacant brownfield next to the agency's headquarters in Cleveland's Kinsman neighborhood.

CMHA officials expect the solar farm will save millions dollars on electricity over the 30-year life of the panels and they hope the cutting-edge project will burnish the image of one of the nation's largest and oldest public housing authorities.

The agency, which turns 80 in 2013, provides housing to about 55,000 poor people in Cuyahoga County.

"This may help change the way people look at [public] housing," said Jeffrey Patterson, CMHA's chief executive officer. "Maybe there is some shine coming from these solar panels.

"This is a little bit different for us," Patterson added. "But I hope in the future we can look at doing other projects like this, other sustainable things, that allow us to be environmentally friendly and also reduce costs."

The project is a head-turner in Cleveland's Forgotten Triangle, a part of the Kinsman neighborhood where residents joke that the population doubles at night when outsiders arrive to illegally dump tires and debris in vacant lots.

The solar farm takes up about half of a 12-acre brownfield owned by CMHA next to its new three-story headquarters. On sunny days, the solar farm is expected to generate enough electricity to power the 73,495 square-foot building -- the equivalent of about what's required for 100 homes.

Construction on the 1.1 megawatt, ground-mounted solar array is complete and its expected to begin generating electricity this month following some last-minute tune-ups, said Mike Shaut, president and chief executive officer of Carbon Vision, a Shaker Heights company that put together the financing, and designed and built the project. The final cost will be slightly more than $3 million.

"It's cutting edge," said Shaut. "First, it's for a public housing authority. It's also on a brownfield in an urban setting, and it's in an economically-challenged area of the city.

"It took a lot of cooperation to allow it to happen," Shaut said.

That included Key Bank getting the private investors a low-interest loan because the project was in a targeted community redevelopment area.

Additionally, FirstEnergy Corp. agreed to buy the renewable energy credits from the project to help meet a 2008 state law that requires a small portion of its energy portfolio to include solar energy by 2024.

Carbon Vision is leasing the property from CMHA but will own the solar farm for the first 15 years. Over the final 15 years, CMHA will be given a chance to buy the farm at a reduced price. The company will sell the electricity to Cleveland Public Power, then Cleveland Public Power will resell it to CMHA at a discount.

Ivan Henderson, Cleveland Public Power commissioner, said his utility was able to give CMHA a break on a metering tariff that's normally charged.

"Without some flexibility, projects like this wouldn't happen," Henderson said. "It worked out well. We want to help our customers go green."

Michael Simmons, CMHA's chief financial officer, noted that Carbon Vision and its investors are paying for the entire project.

"There is no cost for us," Simmons said. "We're going to see a savings through the whole project, but once we own the field the actual energy that comes from it will be practically free for us."

Officials said the project is the largest of its kind in greater Cleveland.

"It's exciting," said Steve Caminati, vice president of public affairs at Advanced Energy Economy Ohio, an industry group. "This is definitely one of the more significant-sized projects in the state."

The state's largest solar farm -- 159,200 panels on 84 acres in Upper Sandusky in Wyandot County -- began generating electricity earlier this year. It's 12 megawatts of power is enough to power 4.500 homes.

The Campbell Soup company has a 9.8 megawatt solar farm at its production facility in the northwest Ohio community of Napoleon. And the Akron Metro Regional Transit Authority claims the state's largest solar rooftop array -- a 488 kilowatt installation on top of its bus garages at it headquarters.

American Electric Power Ohio is awaiting regulatory approval on a 50 megawatt solar farm in Noble County near Zanesville. It will be the largest solar power project east of the Rocky Mountains.

At CMHA, chief executive officer Patterson notes that a few residents living in public housing have been hired to work on Kinsman project, which he views as a community resource.

"The object was do to something that would be a productive use of that land as well as something that would enrich the community," Patterson said. "In doing this, I think we will have a long-term impact on the environment."