Construction on Superior Water, Light and Power’s first community solar
garden is in high gear.
Installation of racking and the first of nearly 1,300 solar panels got underway in early August at the Superior Solar site near Heritage Park in Superior. The 470-kilowatt solar garden—large enough to power about 115 homes—is being built on company-owned land at 2828 Hammond Ave.
“We’re proud to already be delivering more than 50% renewable energy to our customers and this solar garden reflects our commitment to them, to the Superior-area community and to advancing a clean-energy future” said SWL&P President Rob Sandstrom. “Customers told us they wanted access to more renewable, carbon-free energy and Superior Solar is a simple, convenient way for them to go solar.”
The project is fully subscribed with 80 customers. The size of the individual subscriptions ranges from 1 to 104 blocks with each block equal to 1 kilowatt of capacity. Among the largest subscribers are Essentia Health, National Bank of Commerce, Kari Toyota, the City of Superior and Charter Next Generation.
Panels for Superior Solar were manufactured by Heliene in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, and Hunt Electric is the project contractor. Energy from Superior Solar is expected to begin feeding into the power grid in October.
In addition to generating renewable energy, Superior Solar also is the site of a new pollinator garden. The area will be planted with native grasses and flowers that create a habitat where bees, butterflies and other pollinators can live and gather food. It will take several years before the garden is fully established.
Although Superior Solar is currently fully subscribed, interested customers can learn more about the community solar garden and put their name on a waitlist for future renewable energy options at https://www.swlp.com/CustomerService/SuperiorSolar.
Superior Water, Light and Power provides electricity, natural gas and water in the city of Superior and adjacent areas in northwestern Wisconsin. The company has served the area since 1889 and provides services to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers and 10,000 water customers. More information can be found at www.swlp.com.