Bloomington company competing in Duluth for solar supremacy

DULUTH -- Solar panels from three different manufacturers -- including two made in Minnesota -- will battle it out on the roof of a downtown Duluth office building to see which can generate the most electricity.

Three 10,000-watt solar systems will combine to be the largest photovoltaic system in northern Minnesota, tied into the electric grid and providing a hefty chunk of the electrical needs of the seven-story St. Louis County Government Services Center.

The panels will cost about $170,000 combined. But Minnesota Power is providing the county with about $116,000 in renewable energy rebates, making the cost easily justified, with a payback in just a few years.

Minnesota Power has hired the Natural Resources Research Institute at UMD as an independent auditor to monitor the electrical output of the three systems and to determine the county's precise energy savings.

The solar panels, which convert light to electricity without creating any emissions, and with no moving parts, will come from Mountain Iron-based Silicon Energy, Bloomington-based TenKsolar, and from Trina, a Chinese manufacturer.

"We know that Minnesota has the same solar capacity as Houston, Texas. Even on cloudy days we will get generation out of these units. And we also know they are most efficient when it's cold, so that's not an issue,'' said Tony Mancuso, the county's property management director. "Now we can see which one of these will hold up best to our climate. And which one gives us the most bang for the buck."

For example, Mancuso said, Silicon Energy's units are said to be among the most durable, and best able to shed snow. But they also are more expensive.

Craig Kedrowski, a regional account manager for Minnesota Power, said the system on the office rooftop is exactly the type that will help the Duluth-based utility reach its state-mandated mark of generating 1.5 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2020. Kedrowski said they hope to use the county project as a demonstration for other government agencies, private businesses and homeowners considering a move to solar.

Large, commercial solar energy systems tied into the larger electrical grid -- so--called distributed power generation -- are getting more attention as technological advances make them more feasible, Minnesota Power officials said, and as government mandates for renewable power increase.

"This gives us a good reading of which units will work best up here and what kind of maintenance they'll need,'' Kedrowski said. "And it will be an example of what technology is out there for other people considering going this route."

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Bloomington company competing in Duluth for solar supremacy