By Tim Engstrom | June 22, 2017
It looks like Pax Christi Catholic Community will have the first community solar garden in Eden Prairie.
While there are places with solar panels and while other entities have invested in shared solar arrays located elsewhere, the one planned for the building at 12100 Pioneer Trail should be the first in the city when it is installed in September and October.
Thanks to state legislation passed in 2013 and 2014, community solar gardens allow people to share in the ownership of an array of solar panels, rather than putting them on their own roofs. The energy generated enters the power grid, which then shows up as a credit on the subscribers’ Xcel Energy bills.
Brett Benson, director of operations with Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, said the idea is to give access to solar to everyone, not merely people with funding for solar arrays.
“We are never going to get to a clean energy future if not everybody can participate,” he said. Read more
