Nearly 100 households in the Village of Minoa are powered by more than 6,400 solar panels in a nearby field. The formerly empty plot of land off Clemons and Baird Roads now has a new purpose. Bill Silva is CEO of United Renewable Energy, the construction firm that built the solar array.
“This is a power plant. This is this generates 3 megawatts of power, which is a lot," Silva said. "This site can power about 409 homes equivalent energy over the course of a year."
It’s quiet power plant. If you get close, all you hear are the cooling fans for the inverters. Silva explains how it works.
“So these panels generate electricity, they go through these inverters, they are then sent back to the utility through regular distribution lines like you see there," Silva said. "The utility meters that power going back and then distributes it to the members of the solar farm. The solar farm has a a number of subscribers. They're typically local, including the village of Minoa here.”
Minoa mayor Bill Brazill is pleased with the results and the response.
“So we had huge success. They were amazed at how many people signed up,” Brazill said. "About 20% of the field is residents of the village that are on it, plus me personally. Our village is on it, all our buildings we put on the program. So we're receiving the credits and a reduction of our energy bill.”
A San Francisco-based company called Renewable Properties that develops and operates solar projects is leasing the 11 acre site from a private, local owner. Another firm manages the subscriptions. Mayor Brazill says the project was contingent upon giving village residents priority access to the new energy. He says he was able to gather enough support when he involved and educated some initially skeptical residents.
“People have already have pre preconceived notions of what a solar field is. And people are just, you know, 'none of that energy is really coming to us.' And I tell them, 'I understand that. They're credits'.”
Brazill says residents had a say on other details, from the entrance gate location to the trees planted on the perimeter. The energy generated by the solar array is expected to reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 2,200 hundred tons per year.
