John Myers – 06/10/2009 Duluth News Tribune
The McQuade Road safe harbor just outside Duluth became the first solar-powered boat landing in Minnesota on Tuesday. Crews were bolting 2 kilowatts of solar panels on an I-beam to feed electricity into the Minnesota Power grid—hopefully enough to offset the power used by the restrooms and parking lot lights at the new landing on Lake Superior.
“When the sun is shining and it’s producing more than we need, Minnesota Power buys it back. When we are using more than the sun can provide, we’ll be paying on the electric bill,” said Peter Hark, field operations manager for the DNR’s Trails and Waterways Division. “Because most of this use here will be seasonal, we hope that, at the end of the year, we will have offset all of our electrical use by producing solar energy.”
It’s the first major entry by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources into solar power. But many more projects are planned as the agency moves to cut its energy use and reduce its carbon footprint. Solar panels are set to be installed at the DNR’s off-highway vehicle park in Gilbert on the Iron Range, Hark said. And solar panels will be added to several North Shore state park campgrounds to help offset increased electrical use by RVs.
Meanwhile, Camden State Park in southwestern Minnesota this spring became the first DNR facility to be totally energy self-sufficient. Thanks to a new wind turbine and geothermal heat pump, the state park now generates more than enough electricity and heat so that the DNR doesn’t have to buy any coal-powered electricity from utilities. “Camden is a true net-zero site,” said Rob Bergh, the DNR’s new energy coordinator. His job was added this year to oversee the agency’s energy and carbon-cutting efforts. “We’re hoping this boat landing is net zero energy as well.”
Including rebates from the Minnesota Department of Energy and Minnesota Power—available to anyone on the electrical grid—and a discount from Conservation Technologies, the Duluth-based contractor on the project, the McQuade solar panels cost the DNR about $28,000. “But they’ll be here, producing electricity, whenever the sun shines, for at least 20 years,” said Tad McCannell, technician for Conservation Technologies. Some of the money used for energy projects comes from state bonds sold for construction projects, other from the state’s new outdoor legacy account funded by the 3/8 percent sales tax increase for environmental projects.
In the long run, the move to green power will save taxpayers and state park visitors real money in reduced energy bills. “But the greatest payback is cleaner water and cleaner air. We’re going to be using less energy [from coal] and cutting our carbon footprint,” Hark said. Less coal burned for electricity also means less mercury going into the air and falling into Minnesota lakes and streams and building up in fish. “As a natural resource agency, we’re looking at the bigger picture on all of this,” Hark added.
The McQuade Road solar project sits just 50 feet from Scenic Highway 61 on the North Shore and will be visible to tens of thousands of travelers every year. The site also will include a solar power education kiosk and an electric meter to show in real time what the solar panels are generating. “Public outreach is a big part of this. People need to know this is real, and we’re doing it, and they can too,” Hark said.
