Hennepin County Public Works Facility has Solar Panels

If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you know that I like to be good and green (if you’re not a regular reader, I hope you’ll soon become one!). And we loved the idea of a green roof on the Target Center, and from the comments we received, our readers do, too!  Now I have another green project to tell you about.

Hennepin County has installed solar panels on its Medina public works facility. The 530 panels on the roof of the building will generate a maximum of 80 kilowatts of electricity, providing up to 15% of the electric power used in the building. That would save Hennepin County about $15,000 in electricity charges per year. It is the second-largest solar installation in the state of Minnesota, behind Merrick Inc.’s set-up in Vadnais Heights, which supplies 100 kilowatts of power.

"The county is trying to be a leader in renewable energy and conservation and sustainable buildings," said Dave McNary, Hennepin County's assistant director of environmental services in charge of energy and solid waste. "If we generate electrical energy from renewable resources, we can reduce reliance on fossil fuels."

Part of Hennepin's "cool county" initiative is a commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses produced by the county by 80 percent by 2050. That means the county is looking for other buildings that might be suitable for solar installations.  Additionally, there are plans in the works to install a wind turbine at the Medina site as well.