Mayo Clinic announces installation of 500 solar panels

From Rochester Post-Bulletin

by Jeff Hansel

Mayo Clinic announced this morning that it plans to undertake "the largest solar energy project in southeast Minnesota."

Beginning this summer, about 500 solar panels will be installed on the roof of Mayo Clinic's Damon Patient/Visitor Parking Ramp in downtown Rochester, the clinic said.

The effort will save costs and help offset peak summer energy use, as solar energy production peaks during summer when power demands soar for air conditioning.

Rochester Public Utilities will help with installation costs through a "solar rebate program."
Read complete story: 

Northfield Co Awarded $7.7 Million for Solar Glass Production

Cardinal Solar Technologies was awarded a $7.7 million tax credit under President Obama’s stimulus plan to re-tool its Northfield, Minn., facility, according to a Jan. 7 release. The credit is available upon progression from residential window and door coating operations to production of thin film coatings for use in the manufacturing of solar modules.
Read story in Glass Magazine.

New Rebates Announced - Solar Now Affordable For Everyone

From SE CERTS Chair Anne Morse
This message was sent to all Winona County residents who attended the 2009 Solar Energy for Homeowners Workshop, Winona County EDA committee members, Sustain Winona members and other interested parties.

Great news! Federal stimulus dollars are now available to Minnesota residents for solar PV systems via the $2/watt state rebate. The Mn Office of Energy Security is managing the fund, which is about $3.5 million, so they’ll be able to support quite a few projects. For anyone desiring a solar system, the time is now, as installs have never been so affordable. As one rather jealous contractor from Rochester commented recently, if you’re in Xcel’s territory and can take advantage of it’s aggressive $2.25/watt rebate, solar PV is a virtual no-brainer! Please spread the word, and help make Winona County a leader in the number of solar installations.

Below are a couple of cost analyses to demonstrate how the rebates and credits work for Xcel residential customers. The costs detailed below, while reasonable estimates, are only a guide. Costs include installation, but do not account for complex installations. Retrofits are more costly than new construction, of course.

These solar systems have an expected lifetime of 30 years (panels typically have a 25year warranty), so with an expected $700 worth of electricity generated each year, paybacks are under five years, and in years 6 – 30, your system is a revenue generator.

5KW Solar PV system
Original Cost ($7/watt x 5000 watts) $35,000
Less 30% fed tax credit - 10,500
Less state credit of $2/watt - 10,000
Less Xcel rebate of $2.25/watt - 11,250
Net Cost of 5 KW PV System $ 3,250

Solar hot water system
Original Cost of 2 4x8 ft panels $9,500
(64 sq ft @$150/SqFt)
Less 30% fed tax credit - 2,850
Less state rebate of $25 sq/ft - 1,600
Net Cost of Solar Hot Water System $5,050

For State Rebate:
Rebates up to $10,000 per home are now available to Minnesota homeowners who install qualifying solar electric and solar hot water systems. Rebate reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis for solar systems that are installed at an applicant's primary residence by a licensed contractor that meets program participation criteria. For more details, go to www.energy.mn.gov and you’ll find the Residential Solar Rebates link in the left column, under “What’s New” Printable Content

Manual on Tax Questions - http://seia.org/galleries/pdf/SEIATaxManual_v3-0_FAQ.pdf

Best Website for current Information on rebates & credits - www.dsire.org

Area Dealers who can get you started with a site analyses, designs, quotes, installation and service:

IPS Solar
Curt Shellum, Rochester,507.990.1382 curt.shellum@ips-solar.com

Winona Renewable Energy LLC
Tim Gulden, Winona, 507.312.0190 timothy.gulden@yahoo.com

Good luck, and let me know if you need help, or more information. Here’s hoping everyone who wants to can install some solar in 2010.

Anne Morse
Sustainability Coordinator
Winona County Environmental Services
225 West 2nd Street
Winona, MN 55987
Office 507.457.6468

Solar farm coming to Olmsted County

A closed Olmsted County landfill will become home to the state's largest solar farm.

The solar farm about two miles southeast of Oronoco will cover about 20 acres and have a generating capacity of 2 megawatts. It will open by mid-2011. Solar farm coming to Olmsted County

MPCA Taps Westwood for Solar Energy Project near Rochester

by Bob Geiger
from Finance & Commerce, January 7, 2010

Eden Prairie-based Westwood Renewables has been picked by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to design and engineer the state's largest photovoltaic array on underutilized land.

The project is a two-megawatt solar facility on a closed landfill site in Olmsted County near Rochester. The solar array is intended to help the MPCA meet sustainability goals and be the first state project to generate clean energy on land that is underutilized.

Read the complete story

Albert Lea Tribune | Riverland to offer solar installer program

Albert Lea Tribune | Riverland to offer solar installer program

MREA Receives Training Funding

The Midwest Renewable Energy Association has been awarded $3.3 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to provide training to technical and community college instructors across the Midwest. The MREA, a non-profit organization based in Custer in north-central Wisconsin, has been teaching about solar electric and solar thermal technologies since 1990. The organization will work with training partners from technical colleges in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa and Minnesota to offer training institutes for instructors that includes hands-on training in installation of solar panels and connecting them to the grid.

Source: www.jsonline.com

University of MN takes 5th Place at Solar Decathlon

Members of Southeast CERTS trekked to St. Paul in October to look at the nearly completed ICON, the University of Minnesota's entry in the Solar Decathlon before it was transported to the international competition in Washington D. C. IKON is an actual house, designed to be totally energy self-sufficient using solar electric, solar thermal and passive solar technologies while evoking the aesthetic of a traditional house with a gabled roof.
It was one of 20 houses designed by teams of university students from around the world. At the competition, the U of M entry took 5th place overall, and was awarded first place for lighting design and engineering.

SE CERTs member Joe Deden and his wife Mary Bell attended the 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington D.C. and sent this note:

At the 4th semi-annual Solar Decathlon on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. we toured 20 solar homes that were designed and built by University students from the United States, Canada, Spain, Germany and Puerto Rico. An example of one creative idea was the University of Arizona home that had a canvas-like window fabric that had irregular shaped holes that automatically expanded and contracted like a camera lens that was designed to control the inside temperature. Two homes displayed unique exterior walls that were made of water, which has three times the temperature retention of cement. Home viewers were privy to brilliantly creative ways to incorporate space flexibility and adaptability with energy efficiency. To win the competition, each home was judged on attractiveness, effectiveness and energy-efficiency. Team Germany won first place, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign won second and Team California came in third. The University of Minnesota took 5th place. For great information, connect to www.solardecathlon.org/

Got Solar? You Are Wanted!

If you are powered by the sun or other alternative energy source, you are invited to be a Solar Tour Site this year. It is a great way to help educate more people on Renewable Energy Options. The qualifying RE systems are solar electric, solar hot water, passive or active solar hot air, ground-source heat, and/or wind energy system at your home or business.

The Tour is Saturday, October 3rd from 10am to 5pm. and the MN Renewable Energy Society can provide volunteers to help you at your site for the day. In thanks for being a site, the American Solar Energy Society and MN Renewable Energy Society will give you a one year membership which includes discounts for classes and a one year subscription to Home Power magazine.

If you're interested in more information please go to: http://www.mnrenewables.org/solar-tour or email laurac@mnrenewables.org

If you would like to enter your site please go to: http://www.mnrenewables.org/solar-tour and click on Submit a Site Application.

Living Off the Grid, Off the Well, & Off the Furnace

Christian Milaster has built a house that operates on just $100 a year and is off-the-grid, , off-the-well, and off-the-furnace, yet has all the comfortable amenenities most people wouldn't want to give up. Milaster calls the buildingand design of his clean energy home "Project Licht 'n Stein" (German for "light and stone")" He shared the details of Project Licht'n Stein at a Southeast CERTs meeting last spring.

Watch videotaped excerpts of Christian Milaster's presentation to SE CERTs:
Project Licht 'n Stein - Introduction

Project Licht 'n Stein - Off-the-Grid

Project Licht 'n Stein - Off-the-Well

Project Licht 'n Stein - Off-the-Furnace


Links:
Project Licht'n Stein
BeCause Group Consulting

RPU Ranks Solar as Preferred Renewable Energy Source

RPU seeks power from rooftops

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 8/27/2009
By Christina Killion Valdez

On Tuesday, Rochester Public Utilities approved its 2009 Infrastructure Plan Update, a guideline for power supply planning that ranked solar higher than wind as the preferred source of renewable energy for the utility company in the future.

The plan provides recommendations as to when and what resources will be needed through 2045. Those recommendationsand public comments, will serve as a guide for future budgeting, Koshire said. SE CERTS Board member RAy Schmitz suggested a future where Rochester residents and businesses would have solar panels on their rooftops, making them producers as well as consumers of electricity.

Read the full story.

Homeowners' Solar Workshop in Winona

Solar Energy — Ready for Your Home Today!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
6:00 – 8:30 pm
Winona Senior High School 903 Gilmore Ave. Winona, Mn
organized by the Renewable Energy Subcommittee of the Winona County Economic Development Authority.

The workshop’s presenters – ranging from installers and dealers to suppliers - represent the best professionals in the business today. With the substantial tax credits, state incentives and utility rebates now in place, solar energy has never been more economically viable. At the end of the evening attendees can expect to walk away with the confidence needed to decide if a solar system – whether solar PV or solar thermal – is right for them.

Agenda
6:00 Affordability of Solar: Tax Credits & other Incentives Pam Newell,, Xcel Energy’s Solar Rewards Program
6:30 Efficiency & the Value of One Technology over Another Lynn Hinkle, HK Climate Solutions
7:00 Solar Thermal and Solar PV — Key Considerations Ralph Jacobson, Innovative Power Systems
8:00 Installation & Addressing Code Concerns Tom Thompson, Pine Island Solar

Registration requested by calling 507.457.6468 or by e-mail to amorse@co.winona.mn.us

This workshop is the second in a series of 2009 Summer Renewable Energy Workshops for Homeowners. The first workshop, held in Ridgeway in June, focused on geothermal energy. The third and final workshop, to be held in St. Charles on August 20th, will focus on small wind turbines, sized 40kw and under.

Solar Energy Presentation

Sunday, April 19, 12:15 pm,
First Unitarian Universalist Church (Sanctuary,)
1727 Walden Lane SW, Rochester

Don't miss this presentation by the dynamic students who spearheaded the Minnesota Student Energy Project and secured funds to install solar panels on Mayo High School. In the past year, these students have raised over $136,000 for solar panels for Minnesota Schools. Learn about their research and how solar energy could be implemented in your home, school, or business.

Control Your Energy Future -Solar Thermal Forum

Izaak Walton League Home Energy Forum

April 7, 2009
Solar Thermal - presented by Tom Thompson

If you want to cut your greenhouse gas emissions, lower monthly expenses or free yourself from the gas company, there has never been a better time to install solar hot water systems. State rebates and federal tax incentives make solar power affordable.

Tom Thompson, owner of Pine Island Solar, started building super-insulated homes in the 1970's. His work then migrated to passive solar homes and now to photovoltaic and solar thermal installations. He will be discussing design requirements, system sizing and expected performance of photovoltaic systems in December.

Izaak Walton League Cabin
937 7th Ave NE
Rochester. MN

7 p.m.
Open to the Public
For more information, visit www.rochestermnikes.org or call 507-775-2814.

FSWCD Energy Fair

Energy Fair
Saturday, February 28, 2009 starting at NOON
Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center
28097 Goodview Drive, Lanesboro, MN 55949

Fillmore Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)

With financial support from Hiawatha Valley Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) and the Driftless Area Initiative

Afternoon Informational Sessions are FREE.
Cost for the meal is $10/person. Contact the SWCD (507-765-3878, ext. 3) by Feb. 20th to sign up for the meal.

FARM TRACK:

FarmsteadEnergy Efficiency and Conservation
Brad Pecinovsky , Tri-County
Electric

Transportation Fuels:Past, Present, and Future
Doug Root,
Ph.D., Ag Utilization Research Institute (AURI)

Pork and Plants Biomass Pelletizer
Tim Terrill, Winona SWCD

Productive Conservation on Working Lands and Other Financial Incentives
Joe Domeier, Three Rivers Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D)

Small Scale Solar and Wind
Rich Huelskamp, Sun’s Warmth, Red Wing

HOME TRACK:

Small Scale Solar and Wind
Rich Huelskamp, Sun’s Warmth, Red Wing

Windbreaks
Rick Grooters, Fillmore SWCD

Rain Barrels
Jane Bailey, Zumbro Watershed Partnership

Green Building: Monolithic Dome Structures
Jerry Cleveland, Spring Valley

Green Building: Project Licht 'n Stein Energy Efficient Home
Christian Milaster, Be!cause Consulting, Inc., Lanesboro

Financial Incentives for Energy Conservation and Renewables
Phil Smith, Energy Specialist, Minnesota Office of Energy Security, MN Dept of Commerce

Home Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Ted Kjos, Tri-County Electric Co-op

Highlights:
Eagle Bluff renewable energy initiatives: Joe Deden, Director – Auditorium
Keynote speaker: Sarah Nettleton “Carbon Neutral: How can we all be a part of the solution?” -- Auditorium
Meal of local foods, SWCD conservation awards, Q&A for Sarah – Eagle Bluff Dining Hall

Home Energy Forums --Solar Thermal

December 2, 2008 -- 7p.m.
Izaak Walton League Cabin
937 7th Ave NE
Free- Open to Public

Tom Thompson, owner of Pine Island Solar builds passive solar homes and does photovoltaic and solar thermal installations. He will be discussing design requirements, system sizing and expected performance of photovoltaic solar thermal installations at the April 7th forum.

Sponsored by the Rochester Izaak Walton League. Call 507-775-2814 for more information, or visit www.rochestermnikes.org.

Home Energy Forums - Solar Electric

December 2, 2008 -- 7p.m.
Izaak Walton League Cabin
937 7th Ave NE
Free- Open to Public

Tom Thompson, owner of Pine Island Solar builds passive solar homes and does photovoltaic and solar thermal installations. He will be discussing design requirements, system sizing and expected performance of photovoltaic systems in December and solar thermal installations at the April 7th forum.

Sponsored by the Rochester Izaak Walton League. Call 507-775-2814 for more information, or visit www.rochestermnikes.org.