Host a Community Solar Garden

Looking to create local clean energy that serves your community? The first step is finding a good location.

To host a community solar garden (CSG) for your community, you need to own (or connect us with an owner) a large roof or other unshaded open area, much like a field or parking lot. We need unobstructed rooftops of at least 80,000 sq. ft or open land of at least 5 acres. 

CEF will lease access to the site from the building owner or landowner for 25 years. For a 1MW CSG, CEF pays around $6,000-$10,000/year, depending on the site. Smaller projects may be viable, but would receive proportionately less compensation.

Rooftop Community Solar Gardens

If you are looking at a rooftop-mount, roofs over 80,000 square feet that have been built or replaced recently are ideal. (Having to replace a roof shortly after installing a solar garden is cost prohibitive). CEF uses rooftop panels that add very little weight to the roof (under 5 lbs/square foot), so while each project goes through a structural engineering review, most roofs are viable.

Furthermore, hosting a CSG on your roof has the added benefit of extending the life of your roof, since solar panels block UV radiation - a primary cause of roof deterioration. Recent research also suggests that installing solar on your roof can reduce building temperatures during the summer by up to 6 degrees F, saving on cooling costs in air conditioned buildings.

Ground-Mounted Community Solar Gardens:

CEF can also host community solar gardens on open land (5+ acres), which can be a great fit for more rural areas. Good sites need to be served by Xcel Energy, adjacent to 3-phase power lines, free of wetlands, in counties/townships that allow community solar development. CEF will have to check grid capacity in the local area to verify that the grid can accept more local solar energy. We can easily check potential sites to see if they are a good possibility.

Parking Canopy Community Solar Gardens:

CEF has experience developing community solar gardens as canopies over multi-level or surface parking lots. These projects tend to be more expensive, and will usually require some level of investment from the parking lot owner to help pay for the structural canopy that will provide covered parking.

Recommend a Host Site: If you know a potential location interested in serving as a host site of a community solar array, you can send a recommendation to Solar Site Assessor Bruce Konewko at bruce@cooperativeenergyfutures.com, (612) 568-2334. Please include your name, contact information, the specific address (street, city, state, zip) of the site you are recommending, and a sentence or two about your connection to the site and its owner.