Solar is hot, hot, hot right now in Minnesota, and we wanted to share three recent developments featured in the news this week. Keep on reading to see each story, and click through to learn more!
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| By Frank Jossi, Midwest Energy News |
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After speaking to several solar developers earlier this year, a Minnesota town decided last month to subscribe to a community solar garden that will be operated by Sunshare. Jordan, a community of 6,148 residents southwest of Minneapolis, became the largest and one of the first cities in Minnesota to announce it would be offsetting its electric use through community solar. Jordan’s power would come from a 5 megawatt community garden proposed for Blakely Township in Scott County. The garden could also serve nearby Savage, where city council members in October heard about the benefits of community solar from a Sunshare representative. Read story >> |
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| By David Shaffer, Star Tribune |
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Minnesota’s largest solar power project is now generating electricity atop two parking ramps at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The 3 million-watt system containing 8,705 solar panels went online Tuesday, and is expected to supply 20 percent of the electricity used in Terminal 1 and to cut carbon emissions by nearly 7,000 tons per year, airport officials said. “It is a big deal for us,” said Dennis Probst, executive vice president for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The $20 million solar project is the first of two at the airport. The commission recently approved a plan to install a 1.3 million-watt solar array atop a parking ramp at Terminal 2, at a cost of $8.5 million. Read story >> |
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| By Erin Adler, Star Tribune |
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From installing panels on rooftops to buying into solar gardens, south-metro school districts are investing in solar energy, hoping to conserve resources and improve their bottom lines. In 2014, Waconia High School put 96 solar panels on its new gymnasium roof, while the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan district is finalizing the contracts that will place solar panels on two schools next summer. The Farmington school board approved installing solar panels on five district buildings last week, with plans to outfit all nine buildings. The energy savings on just those five structures will total $77,760 annually, but if the district eventually buys the panels as planned, energy bills would be reduced by $7 million over 20 years, said Jane Houska, Farmington’s finance director. Read story >> |
