On a sunny afternoon July 9, 2015, four regions of Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) and Lake Region Electric Cooperative (LREC) co-hosted an event on community solar gardens (CSGs) at LREC’s facility in Pelican Rapids.
Open to the public, the event included a discussion on CSGs, a panel of northern and central Minnesotan utilities to review their community solar efforts, and a tour of LREC’s Community Solar Installation. Students, local community members and leaders from utilities, businesses, and schools networked over lemonade.
After a welcome from CERTs and LREC, Dan Husted, VP Energy Services, and Steve Haiby, Energy Services Supervisor of LREC, led a tour of LREC’s Community Solar Garden Installations on the grounds of the cooperative’s headquarters. With 100 kW of panels and 60 subscribers, the system utilizes tenK solar panels (which include a reflective film in the mirrored position to capture the less direct sun rays). The system was done in two phases, and the second – a response to a growing demand for CSG subscriptions – was just completed.
After discussions and questions, the groups returned to LREC’s conference room. Sarah Hayden Shaw, Central Region CERTs Coordinator, presented a general overview of CSGs.
Following Sarah, four utilities— Lake Region Electric Cooperative, Minnesota Power, Beltrami Electric Cooperative, and Moorhead Public Service – each explained their CSG programs.
Lake Region Electric Cooperative: A subscription at Lake Region Electric Cooperative costs currently $1400 per 410-watt panel, or about $0.12/kWh. Many enroll to “go solar,” not necessarily to save money, but they will receive a bill credit for their share of the output every month for the next 20 years. Lake Region offers two ways to subscribe – either by paying for the subscription up-front or through an easy-pay option with a monthly amount collected over 35 months. Subscriptions are nearly sold out. Click here to read more about Lake Region’s program.
Minnesota Power: Seeking approval for their Community Solar Program from the Public Utilities Commission, Minnesota Power shared a brief outline of their planned community solar garden program (it won’t be official until their work through the Public Utilities commission process). Right now, their plans include a pilot program to start the program that includes:
- Roughly 1 MW of community solar gardens.
- Three subscription options: purchasing1 kW chunks up front, paying monthly over 25 years, or per kWh generated.
- They plan to include youth in the subscription process and find lots of others ways to engage with their customers.
Beltrami Electric Cooperative: On June 24 at their annual meeting, Beltrami Electric unveiled “Northern Solar” – an 80 kW community solar garden project. The project will begin construction once Beltrami has secured subscriptions for half of the garden. Customers can purchase 20-year leases of full panels ($1,295) or half-panels ($647.50). Sam Mason, Manager of Energy Services and Facilities, emphasized that member interest sparked this project. Click here to read more about Beltrami’s program
Moorhead Public Service: Moorhead Public Service boasts one of Minnesota’s first Municipal Community Solar Garden Projects. With 125 subscribers, 144 panels, 44 kW, and room for 300-400 kW, they plan to expand. Subscriptions cost $480 per panel. The only method of payment splits the cost of the panels evenly over twelve charges. For that payment, subscribers receive a 20-year license for one panel’s output and receive a kWh bill credit once per year. Click here to read more about Moorhead’s program
Download presentations:
- Dan Husted, Lake Region Electric Cooperative
- Sarah Hayden Shaw, Clean Energy Resource Teams
See photos from this event:
Read a story by Detroit Lakes Online about the tour >>
Community Solar Gardens are centrally-located solar photovoltaic (PV) systems that provide electricity to participating subscribers. Could it work for you?Are you interested in going solar but unable to do so on your own? Perhaps you live in an apartment, have a shaded roof at home, or don’t have space at your organization.
Where do you want to start?
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