The Metropolitan Council has announced that the community solar garden at the Empire Township wastewater treatment plant is officially open.
"The expansion is great news for our entire region and its residents," Council Chair Adam Duininck said. "The gardens translate into financial savings for residents, as well as less pollution, including fewer fossil fuel emissions."
A community solar garden is an array of solar panels that governments, businesses and households can subscribe to, rather than installing their own solar panels.
The generated power flows to an electric utility. The subscriber then receives a credit on its electric bill from the utility based on the energy generated and the size of its subscription.
The array, at 2540 197th St., is one of three five-megawatt sites going up in Empire Township, according to Dean Johnson, planning consultant with Resource Strategies.
A second site, put up by Minneapolis-based Geronimo Energy, is at the dead end of a minimum maintenance road near Biscayne Avenue and 190th Street.
A third, which is still in the early planning stages, is by Sun Edison, whose corporate headquarters are in Missouri.