City plans solar garden

As the cost of solar energy goes down, interest in solar energy projects is going up. The city of Claremont is considering contracting with a company to provide a “solar garden” for community residents, and Steele Waseca Cooperative Electric is planning for a community solar project for its members.
Claremont is working on a contract with Novel Energy Solutions in St. Charles that would allow Claremont residents to tap into solar energy and save money on their electric bills.
Traditional solar arrangements required an individual homeowner to install solar panels on their house, said Duane Hebert, chief operating officer of Novel Energy. The electricity generated by the solar panels had to be used at the specific location, he said.
In 2013, he said, the Minnesota Legislature passed an omnibus energy bill that was intended to significantly increase the amount of solar and other renewable energy generated in the state.
Under terms of the legislation, he said, the four investor-owned public utilities — Xcel Energy, Minnesota Power, Otter Tail Power and Interstate Power and Lights — were required to provide 1.5 percent of their power from solar by 2020. In addition, a provision allowed for development of community shared power or “solar gardens.” In a solar garden, a group of individuals can join in a shared system of not more than 1 MW rather than installing panels on their individual properties.
Novel Energy is one of the developers of these shared systems or solar gardens, Hebert said.
“This is ideal for all of those who don’t have access to solar panels,” said Hebert. About 75 percent of residents do not have access to solar energy, he added, for a variety of reasons, including cost or living in apartments or rental units or other places where solar is not practical.
Under a solar garden concept, a group, in this case the city of Claremont, would contract with his company to construct a solar array, he said.
The energy generated by the solar array would be sold to Xcel Energy by Novel Energy, but Claremont residents would be able to get their electricity from Novel at a rate less than Xcel charges its customers.
Hebert estimated that a resident who currently spends $100 a month on electricity would be able to get it through the community solar garden plan for about $85 a month.
Hebert said that people understand the negative impact of carbon-based fuels. The advantage of solar over wind energy, he said, is that wind turbines require maintenance while solar panels do not.
He added that, despite Minnesota’s northern location, over the course of a year, it is very suitable to solar energy.
Steele Waseca Cooperative is also planning on offering a solar plan to its members.
Steele Waseca’s plan involves building a solar array on the cooperative’s property in Owatonna, said Kristi Robinson. The array will initially consist of 250 panels. Cooperative members may subscribe for up to 20 panels per account, she said.
The first panel will cost SWCE members $170, she said, while additional panels would be $1,225 per panel.
Each panel is 410 watts, she said, and over the 20-year life of the project, is expected to produce an average of 510 kWh per year. Each month, the subscriber’s electric bill would include a credit showing the amount of kilowatt-hours for their portion of the community solar array the previous month, she said.
To become part of the solar project, a member must agree to join SWCE’s 16-Hour Water Heater Control Program, Robinson said.
Construction on the solar array is expected to begin this spring, Robinson said, with turning on of the project expected to coincide with the cooperative’s annual meeting in June.