Tag Archives: The City of Kearney

Kearney Hub Opinion: Storage new frontier in race for clean energy

The city of Norfolk is fixing to one-up Kearney on the solar energy front, and we wish Norfolkans the best of luck. Earlier this week, the northeast Nebraska city entered an agreement with Nebraska Public Power District on a venture to build a sizable solar array and link it to an energy storage system. It doesn’t appear as if Norfolk’s array will rival Kearney’s in size, but the size of the system isn’t nearly as important as its ability to successfully plow new ground in the development of green energy. Continue reading here.

Photo: Kearney’s $11 million, 53-acre solar farm, currently the largest in the state.

ALSO OF POTENTIAL INTEREST: NEBRASKA / MIDWEST NEWS

Solar farm proposed to help power Kendall County Courthouse, Chicago Tribune
Lincoln, Nebraska-based GRNE Solar is seeking special use permit approval from Yorkville to install and operate a solar farm consisting of about 6,400 solar modules at the southeast corner of John Street and Beecher Road west of the Kendall County Government campus in Yorkville.
Previously Posted: Nebraska-based GRNE Solar installs 3,510 solar panels at Delta County Airport in Michigan, Escanaba Daily Press
Chasing green: These metros have the best job opportunity in renewable energy, The Bay State Banner. Using the ZipRecruiter Best Job Market Index, we dug into the metropolitan statistical areas that provide the best opportunity for employment in renewable energy. Then we leveraged multiple factors to determine the overall quality of life in these areas. [#7. Omaha, Nebraska-Council Bluffs, Iowa]
Ohio’s Largest Solar Farm Development Announced, News Release, Natural Resources Defense Council. Today’s filing includes plans for developing a combined 400MW of solar, split between two farms that were selected through a competitive bid process. Both will be located in Highland county. The filing at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is expected to be followed with other projects that would make up the 900MW of renewable energy announced in Ohio last week.
How Two Wisconsin Cities Want To Transform Their Energy Use: Eau Claire, Madison Plan Ambitious Goals For Renewables In Face Of Climate Change, WisCONTEXT
Greenspace: Renewables energizing job growth, Post Bulletin
“Rochester is uniquely poised because it’s a municipal utility company,” said Rick Morris, Rochester clean energy organizer for Sierra Club’s North Star Chapter. He noted Minneapolis has a plan to convert to 100 percent renewable electricity citywide by 2030 and St. Louis Park has made a 100 percent renewable commitment as well. “Not only is it possible, but our neighbors are already doing it,” Morris said.
Country’s newest solar factory opens on the Iron Range, MPR News
Local construction company creates solar division, Journal Standard
Illinois’ goal is to produce 25 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025. There are multiple state and federal incentives to help home and business owners recoup portions of the cost of an installation. The state’s Solar Renewable Energy Credits program grants one sellable credit to homeowners for each megawatt hour of electricity their solar system produces. One credit from a small-scale system sold for approximately $180 during spring 2017. A small-scale seven-kilowatt system could generate about 8,000 kilowatt-hours each year, which means an Illinois homeowner could receive $1,440 per year in additional income, according to energysage.com.
Number of solar farm projects nearing 30 in DeKalb County, Daily Chronicle
Two large renewable energy projects planned for Muskegon County, WZZM13
NIPSCO to speed up retirement of remaining coal-fired plants, replace them with renewable energy, Post-Tribune/Chicago Tribune

Kearney Solar Park Ribbon Cutting

The City of Kearney, Nebraska Public Power District and SoCore Energy announce a ribbon cutting event to be held on Monday, December 11, 2017 at 2:30 p.m. to celebrate Kearney’s new Solar Park located at 4707 Antelope Avenue, Kearney, NE. This $11M project is the largest of its kind in Nebraska and will generate 5.8 megawatts of electricity, about 5 percent of Kearney’s peak demand. The ribbon cutting will take place on site with Lt. Governor [Mike Foley] and David Bracht, Director of the Nebraska Energy Office, as guest speakers.

Solar shares are still available for purchase. Interested Kearney residents may sign up online for solar shares by clicking this link and choosing the Kearney project. They may also call NPPD toll-free at 1-877-275-6773. NPPD will review all solar requests and contact the subscriber with more information including the customer’s program eligibility, cost, number of shares available, etc. before finalizing the purchase agreement. Additional information about the program can be found here.

Link to the announcement here.

Request Community Solar In Your Community
In addition to Kearney, participating communities in NPPD’s SunWise Program include Venango and Scottsbluff. If you are an NPPD customer who lives in another town or city and would like to request community solar in your community, click here to fill in and submit the online SunWise Community Solar Interest Form.

Tech oNE Crossing Update: Xpanxion officials say business will allow for employees to ‘work in a different way’

By Amanda Push, The Kearney Hub

The 20,000-square-foot building will have the capacity for 120-140 employees. Xpanxion’s current Kearney facility at 810 E. 56th St. has capacity for 75 employees. Once the Tech oNE building is complete, the entire Kearney operation will move there. No detail is spared to shape the space into a state-of-the-art facility where work and play collide . . . Plans for the technology park also include the construction of Nebraska’s largest solar energy array. Officials with Chicago-based SoCore Energy, Nebraska Public Power District and the city entered a 25-year agreement in February to build a 5.8 megawatt, $11 million solar array on 53 acres of the park. Construction for the solar array began in June. Read more here.

Tech oNE Crossing

Photo: Kearney’s solar farm consists of approximately 23,000 panels on 53 acres at Tech oNE Crossing, The panels are mounted on a tracker-designed racking system. To date, the array is Nebraska’s largest solar project. It will generate 5.8 megawatts of electricity, or about 5% of Kearney’s peak demand.

Related News Story
UNK makes move to solar energy with NPPD, SoCore agreement, KSNB – Hastings

UNK SUSTAINABILITY PLAN
Purchasing solar energy fits in with UNK’s long-term plan to improve its environmental impact. UNK rolled out a sustainability plan last year. UNK is beginning to work towards reducing emissions by 13 percent, increasing the recycling rate to 50 percent, reducing energy consumption by 25 percent, reducing water consumption by 15 percent, making the campus 75-percent commute sustainable and using 50-percent green purchasing by 2025. By 2050, UNK plans to be 100-percent climate neutral and have a 90-percent recycling rate.

As costs drop, solar projects get attention

Written by Mike Konz, Kearney Hub Managing Editor

The Kearney project, at $11 million and 5.8 megawatts, will be the largest solar array in Nebraska when its solar panels spanning 53 acres go online in the fall. The Kearney project is among community solar projects that are flying off the drawing board as creative partnerships, technological advancements and other factors have turned solar into a cost-effective, long-term alternative among renewable energy sources. Read the entire article here.

Photo: Chicago-based SoCore Energy will build Kearney’s community solar project. The company recently partnered on the Dairyland Power Cooperative’s solar array in Wisconsin, which received a “Project of Distinction” award at the 2016 PV Conference & Expo in Chicago. The award recognizes the best photovoltaic projects in the Midwest. Dairyland Power Cooperative and its project partners — SoCore Energy, Faith Technologies Inc. and Distribu-Gen Cooperative — were recognized for Dairyland’s 18 MW solar portfolio. The 14 sites in the portfolio are spread across Wisconsin and Iowa, with installations ranging from 600 kilowatts to 2.75 megawatts in size. – Source: SoCore Energy Blog

Nebraskans for Solar

Solar: the energy of life