Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission passed two motions at their January 8 meeting that could lead to a 21.8-kilowatt solar garden in the Cedar Grove Business Park.
The first motion was to acquire a 2.97-acre lot that is adjacent to the Como tanks.
That motion is dependent upon the EDA willing to sell the lot cheap and the city and county agreeing to the sale.
Tim Kennedy motioned with a second from Ann Possis with support from George Wilkes to purchase the land.
Wilkes noted the EDA had already said it would sell the PUC one ace in the business park for one dollar. Mary Sommnis, the Cook County/Grand Marais EDA director, who attended the meeting, said she would put the request on the EDA’s February agenda.
Next, the PUC voted to pursue building a 21.8-kilowatt solar garden on that site hopefully this coming summer.
Cost of installation would be around $50,000, said Wilkes, adding that the price of clearing the land and putting in a road wasn’t included in that estimate.
Kennedy asked Wilkes how much land would be taken up by a 21.8-kilowatt solar garden with Wilkes saying it would take up about ten percent of one acre.
Possis wondered about the land being taken off the tax roles and Kennedy responded, “It’s not taking it off the tax roles because it’s not on the tax roles now.”
Kennedy asked that the PUC pursue acquiring the whole 2.97 acres for future solar energy projects.
“We could acquire the whole lot now and four or five years down the road, if we don’t need it, give it (what’s not used) back. Because it’s next to COMO tanks, it’s a pretty passive site. It’s not in demand.”
Payback on solar is about 30 years, said Wilkes. “It’s a slow payback,” he said, adding he hoped a local installer could be hired for the work.
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