Solar added to co-op’s energy supply mix

Dairyland Power, a generation and transmission cooperative serving co-ops in Illinois and three other states, ­continues to diversify its power supply options by adding more solar power from facilities like this one in Galena, Ill. The co-op’s energy mix resources include coal, natural gas, hydro, wind, biomass, landfill gas, animal waste and solar.
Dairyland Power, a generation and transmission cooperative serving co-ops in Illinois and three other states, ­continues to diversify its power supply options by adding more solar power from facilities like this one in Galena, Ill. The co-op’s energy mix resources include coal, natural gas, hydro, wind, biomass, landfill gas, animal waste and solar.

Dairyland Power, which serves the Illinois ­cooperative Jo-Carroll Energy, has signed an agreement with Minnesota-Three, LLC, to purchase the renewable energy produced by a planned large solar facility, to be located north of Rochester, Minn.

The new solar installation will be 517 kilowatts (kW), and could produce enough energy to power nearly 60 homes. Bill Berg, President and CEO of Dairyland, said “Expanding solar resources is consistent with Dairyland’s strategic intent to diversify our energy resources portfolio.”

Dairyland Power also purchases the excess energy output from a 368 kW solar generation facility owned by the City of Galena, Ill., and a number of smaller distributed ­generation projects. There are more than 300 member-owned solar photovoltaic facilities in the Dairyland system and that number continues to grow.

Dairyland provides wholesale electricity to 25 member distribution cooperatives and 16 municipal utilities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.