Above: With a nice crowd on hand Monday, October 5, Arrowhead Cooperative Interim General Manager Jenny Kartes and Arrowhead’s Operations Manager John Twiest teamed up to cut the ribbon to unveil the company’s photovoltaic solar garden, the first of its kind in the county. Left: Inside the cooperative, this neat gizmo measures spikes and troughs in power.
Sunshine, a good omen, greeted 50-60 guests as Arrowhead Cooperative, Inc. officials unveiled its 144 photovoltaic solar panel garden on Monday, October 5, 2015.
Three rows of gleaming black solar panels set at 30 degrees on a southeast hill located about 200 yards behind Arrowhead’s Lutsen office make up the solar array that was developed in conjunction with Great River Energy.
For $1,300, a customer can purchase 20 years of service from one panel, said Arrowhead Interim General Manager Jenny Kartes. “But if a customer can’t pay $1,300 up front, they can pay $55 per month more on their electric bill for two years to cover the cost of participating in the program,” she said.
This is a chance for customers who want to take part in solar energy but don’t have the money to install a system on their property to participate in this growing field of clean energy production, Kartes said.
Arrowhead serves more than 4,000 members in Cook and Lake counties, maintaining more than 300 miles of overhead lines and 224 miles of underground distribution lines.
In the future, if there is enough customer demand, there is room to install two more rows of panels on the hillside, said Arrowhead’s Operations Manager John Twiest.
The solar arrays are anchored in slabs of concrete weighing 5,680 pounds, said Twiest, adding, “They aren’t going anywhere.”
Twiest said the panels and equipment that feed into the cooperative’s power lines should last 30 years with little maintenance. “In the winter we will have to wipe a little snow off of the panels, but that’s about it.”
Total cost of the project was $196,000, said Kartes. Arrowhead will lease the solar garden from CoBank for 10 years and then, “We will own it outright.”
CoBank is a national cooperative bank that serves industries across rural America, offering credit to agribusiness, water, communications, and the power industry.
Even on a cloudy day the photovoltaic panels will produce power, said Twiest.
Should a customer sell his or her home, the solar contract can be transferred to the new homeowner or the homeowner could transfer their solar agreement to another Arrowhead client in the area, Kartes said.
The solar garden has been generating electricity since August 18, and so far, said Twiest, it has generated 7.8-megawatt hours of power. All told, Twiest said, one panel should generate about 280 kilowatt hours per year, and the garden should generate enough electricity to supply the power for two homes each year.
“Why should Arrowhead Cooperative get into solar energy?” Kartes asked rhetorically. “Because it is environmentally friendly and it is energy produced locally for our customers who have been very supportive of this.”
Kartes added, “This is just one small piece in the pie of renewable energy.”
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