A 4,000-panel solar garden installed in Hugo in 2018 brought a wave of complaints from locals who thought it was an eyesore. The City Council modified its solar ordinance, but a second solar garden proposed earlier this year sparked more local opposition.
Some residents at the public hearing said the solar arrays were like “a factory being placed next to houses” and that “the only people proposing them are not Hugo residents.” Others said prohibiting solar gardens is “too extreme” and that solar gardens can be a way for landowners to earn supplemental income and are a good fit for agricultural areas.
“I don’t want to not allow solar farms, but you don’t want to ruin a neighborhood’s character,” City Council Member David Strub said in an interview. “We’re all trying to be good neighbors.”
The city has twice put moratoriums on new solar gardens, also known as solar farms, while it studied the issue, and even considered an outright ban earlier this year. But after a July public hearing in which local opinion was split, the city opted to hold another workshop this week to search for a plan that would allow for more solar gardens but somehow make them palatable to the general public.
It’s a common problem, especially in rural areas, as more solar arrays crop up thanks to the falling cost of solar energy, now considered one of the cheapest ways to produce energy. Community solar gardens are the largest type of solar in Minnesota by far, producing some 865 megawatts of power, or more than the amount of power from residential, commercial and industrial solar combined. The Department of Commerce has approved 48.5 megawatts of new solar gardens so far this year, with another 6.3 megawatts under review.
They’re a popular choice for consumers because “it’s like hitting the easy button for clean, renewable energy,” said Peter Lindstrom, a spokesperson for the Clean Energy Resource Teams, a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, the Great Plains Institute and the Southwest Regional Development Commission. Solar gardens are a way for people to use solar power to lower their energy bills even if their house doesn’t get enough sunlight, if they rent, or if they can’t afford to install a solar array on their rooftop.
A community solar garden customer subscribes to the program in exchange for credits on their energy bill. Under new rules passed by the Legislature last year, a subscriber doesn’t need to live near the community solar garden they subscribe to.
That’s roused interest in building more solar gardens, and created headaches for places like Hugo.