明尼苏达州中西部的清洁能源可扩展性

在我们最近的地区路演中, three bet36365体育app member-businesses shared their latest projects in West Central Minnesota and the impact they have on the local community. 来自一个家庭农场, 一家商业制造公司, 福尔克的种子农场, 75F and Impact Power Solutions approach their clean energy work from three different perspectives.

独立能源生产

福尔克的种子农场, 由夫妻经营, 吉姆和凯伦·福克, 家族企业可以追溯到五代以前吗. 福尔克种子农场位于默多克, MN重视本地客户和计划, with a majority of their customers being farms within 150 miles of their seed plant. A few years back the Falk’s were excited to be a part of a proposed wind-安装 project on their land. Unfortunately, the project ran into trouble connecting to local transmission lines. The Falk’s realized that if their goal was to serve their local community, 然后他们的能源解决方案应该本地化.

“We wanted to do our part to offset our carbon footprint and power the majority of our seedplant’s electrical needs from renewable energy on site,”福尔克说.

After discovering the difficulties that independent farmers face when joining an established grid, 福尔克种子农场转向现场能源生产. From 2016-2019, the seed plant had an annual, average energy cost of $14,332. 自2016年安装风电以来, 2017年的太阳能, 他们的可再生能源现在生产73种.现场所需电力的7%.

“On-farm renewable energy systems are vital tools for farmers and ranchers and their businesses, as they work toward economic and environmental sustainability to combat climate change,”福尔克说.

从改造到改造

Helping commercial businesses improve their energy savings is what 75F is all about. Rather than approach a project with the intention of modifying the existing system, 75F has reinvented the 安装 process and uses modern technology to update the way that buildings are managed.

“这个系统具有很强的可扩展性. 这是易用性的关键，”75F的Bob French说.

75F’s building management system is a vertically-integrated system that begins with sensors and ends with wireless control. This solution provides not only comfort and efficiency for the building-owners, 还能降低能源成本. Recently, 75F was able to reduce the utility bills for HOM Furniture in St. 云由21.1%，仅仅改善了暖通空调行业.

“We reduced the consumption of their HVAC equipment by about 40% or so, 这在当今时代几乎是闻所未闻的,说法语, “但, 有了现代技术，这是可以做到的.”

To guarantee savings to their customers, 75F turns to EnergyPrint. EnergyPrint allows 75F to create a utility dashboard in which they can track a customer’s actual savings in relation to their projected savings. 这种建模方法允许75F跟踪他们所有的项目, 小型和大型, 为业务方法添加另一层可伸缩性.

太阳能社区合作伙伴关系

成立于1991年, Impact Power Solutions works with the commercial and industrial markets across the state. 他们的主要关注点是安装社区太阳能, 自成立以来，他们已经安装了180兆瓦的太阳能. 冲击电源解决方案参与整个过程, 协助开发, 融资, 安装, 和维护.

Impact Power Solutions’ community solar program allows local businesses to reduce their carbon footprints without the worry of maintaining solar panels on their own roofs. It is not just businesses, however, that Impact Power Solutions engage with. 该公司还创建了日出项目, a solar-centered curriculum program in which school districts can subscribe to and participate in. This program provides schools access to Impact Power Solutions’ solar data, allowing educators to engage their students with real-world work.

“Students and educators can chart real-time and historic data from the systems in a way that helps students recognize and understand how energy is created, 在哪里创建的, 以及太阳能如何给他们带来好处,Impact Power Solutions公司的Eric Pasi说, “这不仅仅是从财务的角度, but also from a climate resiliency and grid resiliency standpoint.”

In a bi-annual event, Impact Power Solutions invites educators out to their solar sites. These meetings are an opportunity for each party to share knowledge, where Impact Power Solutions listens to the desires of the educators, 同时解释太阳能是如何进化的. 作为一个结果, this combined set of knowledge is compiled into a curriculum that is sent to schools across the state, 免费的.

在清洁能源的未来，你能扮演什么角色?

With the Build Back Better plan that is under debate at the federal level, 细节可能会让人不知所措. In the clean energy industry, however, job growth is a central element. 作为一个成长中的产业, 从外面看，它可能有点吓人和陌生, but the clean energy workforce is made up of individuals from all backgrounds, from skilled trade workers to marketing and accounting strategists.

“就游说而言，我们在清洁能源方面成长起来, 以及我们对红色和蓝色社区的影响, 从两党角度来看，有很多值得庆祝的事情,”帕斯.

The implementation of clean energy infrastructure will rely on these realizations of mutual benefits. 来自农民与合作社的合作, to renewable technology companies partnering with building owners, these relationships are the foundation of the future of the industry.