Nearly 300 solar panels line the roof of the Brookview Community Center in Golden Valley. This is the first city-owned solar array for the first-ring suburb.
Apadana Director of Sales and Marketing Ben Ganje speaks to the benefits of solar panels on July 15 at the Brookview Community Center.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony takes place on July 15 to celebrate the solar panels on Brookview Community Center in Golden Valley.
An aerial view of the solar panels in Golden Valley at Brookview Community Center.
Solar panels now cover the roof at Brookview. Golden Valley expects to save about $600,000 over the next 30 years from this investment in solar energy.
Nearly 300 solar panels line the roof of the Brookview Community Center in Golden Valley. This is the first city-owned solar array for the first-ring suburb.
Apadana Director of Sales and Marketing Ben Ganje speaks to the benefits of solar panels on July 15 at the Brookview Community Center.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony takes place on July 15 to celebrate the solar panels on Brookview Community Center in Golden Valley.
An aerial view of the solar panels in Golden Valley at Brookview Community Center.
Solar panels now cover the roof at Brookview. Golden Valley expects to save about $600,000 over the next 30 years from this investment in solar energy.
The city of Golden Valley has installed 283 solar panels on the Brookview Community Center, marking the city’s first city-owned solar array.
It is expected to power 30% of Brookview and save the city $600,000 over its 30-year lifespan, according to Ben Ganje from Apadana Energy in New Hope who spoke about the project July 15 at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The panels are designed to require very little maintenance. Staff should not clear snow or clean the panels. If baseball-sized hail causes significant damage to the panels, insurance can cover the cost to replace a panel.
“This is going to produce about the same amount of energy as 20 homes in Golden Valley,” Ganje said. “During the summer, it’s going to produce much, much more than it does in the winter.”
Ganje said the $600,000 savings estimate comes from using the average energy generated.
“An interesting thing about the climate in Minnesota — because some people don’t think we have a good climate or a good kind of UV situation for solar — we produce about the same amount of energy as they do in East Texas because it’s so much hotter down there,” Ganje said. “And on hotter days, solar actually isn’t the most efficient. If it was 40 degrees out, that’s the day that they become more efficient.”
Ganje added that he appreciated the event, noting that not every city holds ribbon-cutting ceremonies for its solar panel arrays.
Mayor Roslyn Harmon noted that the project aligns with the city’s Energy Action Plan as well as the GreenStep program.
“The 124-kilowatt system is expected to pay for itself in about seven years,” Harmon said. “I’m going to say that again. It is going to pay for itself in about seven years, and over its 30-year lifespan, it will save Golden Valley hundreds of thousands of dollars in electricity costs while preventing millions of pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.”
The panels were installed this spring. Staff noted they plan to install safety handrails on the roof.
For those wanting to learn more, a public dashboard with live data on energy generation from these panels can be found at bit.ly/brookviewenergy.
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