KIMT News Three’s Saral Khare spoke with the director about what this means for solar efficiency in the counties.
ADAMS, Minn. – There are around 1000 acres of Solar Panels across Fillmore County and Mower County farmland. The National Grid Reserves is doing the Fillmore County and Louise Solar project where they have around 267,000 solar panels at both counties.
XCEL Energy is also a partner in the project. The projects have a total of 95 Megawatts and Regional Vice President John Marshall says it should power carbon free electricity to 80,000 homes, farmers and businesses.
“Everybody wants affordable energy and reliable energy and that is paramount for what we provide,” said Marshall. “More and more they’re wanting clean energy so this carbon free energy is an environmental goal that we share with our customers.”
National Grid Renewables Director of Strategy David Reamer says the landowners will get around $30 million for the next 20 years which will be a big help to farmers.
“Most farming families look at what’s happening to their land and want to keep it in the family,” said Reamer. “And this is just an avenue for them to do that with an alternative source that they can pass their land on to multiple generations.”
Reamer says the projects should be up and running in the fall.
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