Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services has joined People’s Energy Cooperative of Oronoco, Minnesota, and Tri-County Electric Cooperative of Rushford, Minnesota, to create a new 517-kilowatt (kW) solar array named Minnesota Three LLC in Oronoco.

Traditionally, electric cooperatives have all-requirements contracts with their generation and transmission cooperatives to purchase all electricity to satisfy the needs of their memberships. Contracts like these ease the planning process for G&Ts who need to plan years in advance for future power generation.

As the owners and developers of Minnesota Three, Freeborn-Mower, People’s and Tri-County are trying something new.

Dairyland Power Cooperative, of La Crosse, Wis., is the generation and transmission cooperative for all three electric co-ops. Last summer, when Dairyland issued a request for proposal for a 517-kW solar generator the three cooperatives took the Seventh Cooperative Principle, “Cooperation Among Cooperatives”, to a new level. Together, they formed Minnesota Three LLC and submitted a bid which was accepted. Dairyland will purchase all the power generated by the solar array for the next 20 years.

While solar is gaining popularity among investor-owned utilities that can take advantage of tax credits, it is more challenging for non-profit utilities, like electric cooperatives, to do the same because they don’t qualify for those credits.

Minnesota Three’s 1,880 panels are projected to generate enough electricity to power about 60 homes a year. It is currently the largest solar array in southern Minnesota. The project is visible along Highway 52 north of Rochester.

Icing on the cake was the announcement last fall that Minnesota Three received an award from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

“We were granted $385,000. It was one of the largest solar REAP grant awards in the entire U.S. last year,” Jim Krueger, president and CEO of Freeborn-Mower, said in a press release. “A grant of this size is significant to non-profit organizations like ours. It can make or break a project.”

Other partners in the project include Dragonfly Solar, of Lakeville, Minn. Dragonfly is a commercial solar developer that was selected as the contractor of Minnesota Three. Dragonfly installed the solar panels that were manufactured by SolarWorld, the largest solar manufacturer in the U.S. since 1975. The American-made panels were manufactured at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Oregon.