ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ecolab reports that it is the “first major corporate” participant planning to offset its electricity use as part of a Minnesota alternative energy program involving community solar gardens. The solar gardens will consist of shared solar panel sites with grid-connected subscribers, and will be developed under the Xcel Energy Solar*Rewards Community Program launched late last year.
The company says that as a subscriber to the solar gardens, which will deliver electricity to Minnesota’s local grid, it will offset the electricity it purchases for its various campuses in the state.
SunEdison, a solar technology manufacturer and provider of solar energy services, plans to develop the solar gardens in Dakota County once the project is approved by Xcel Energy. Plans are to begin construction near the end of the year and reach completion in 2016. TerraForm Power Inc. will own and operate the gardens.
“Supporting SunEdison’s solar garden project enables us to lock in electricity rates for the next 25 years and promote solar energy,” says Alex Blanco, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer at Ecolab. “We always seek opportunities to achieve both business and sustainability goals in the way we operate and through our customer solutions.”
Ecolab says it will receive “electricity credits on its Xcel Energy utility bills from the energy created at the solar gardens” that will be based on output from 40% of the gardens’ 40-megawatt total capacity. Forty percent is the maximum amount permitted with the program, and the company says the remaining capacity will be “available for credit to schools, municipalities and other Minnesota community members.”
“We welcome the opportunity to support the long-term viability of community solar gardens,” says Raj Rajan, vice president and global sustainability technical leader at Ecolab. “Our 25-year involvement in the program will generate more than 552 million kilowatt hours of zero-emission electricity, estimated to eliminate more than 381,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide—equivalent to the carbon sequestered by nearly 10 million tree seedlings during their first 10 years of growth.”
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