Northfield's latest community garden

As of February, Northfield and six other Minnesota communities sported a new kind of community garden. This one is a community shared solar array, commonly called a solar garden. Each one produces between three and five megawatts of homegrown power from their solar array and "are part of a larger project that will total approximately 96 megawatts throughout the Twin Cities metro area and greater Minnesota." (www.patch.com)

These solar gardens require about 3-8 acres of land for the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels that generate one megawatt of power; that accommodates the space for the panels and required accessories. (suncyclopedia.com) This power model allows area residents, businesses, municipalities, and others to bypass installing solar panels on their own rooftops, subscribe to the garden utility grid, and receive credits on their utility bill for power produced by the panels.

Solar power is a clean and renewable energy resource. It is quiet, easy to maintain, and very reliable due to no mechanical parts. However, solar panels are expensive to purchase and install and cannot create energy when not exposed to direct sunlight, as on cloudy days or at night. For more information on alternative energy resources and projects in Minnesota, see the following websites:

https://www.xcelenergy.com/company/media_room/news_releases/solar_garde…

http://patch.com/minnesota/northfield/solar-gardens-growing-northfield-…

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~dama0023/index.html

http://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/

^{Credit: absfreepic.com}