Hugo plans to rework city solar ordinance again

Hugo will rework its solar ordinance one more time as it searches for a way to make room for the projects without upsetting some local residents who consider them ugly and out of character for the Washington County city.

That was the consensus after a workshop session last Thursday between the City Council and the Planning Commission, said Rachel Juba, the city community development director.

“They want to resolve this as soon as possible,” she said.

Hugo has debated solar farms since the arrival of the first one in 2018, when a 4,000-panel farm sparked local opposition. An outright ban on future solar farms was considered, but with local opinion split, local elected officials have instead sought a compromise measure that would allow the farms in some form.

The city’s ordinance review committee will consider making changes to the ordinance, Juba said, including one that would increase the minimum lot size for a solar farm to 20 acres. The solar array can be as large as 5 acres, and the thinking was that a larger plot of land would make the array less visible to adjacent property owners, Juba said. The committee will also consider how to prevent a solar farm operator from placing the solar array at their property’s periphery if it’s near buildings or homes on adjacent lots.

Community solar gardens are the largest type of solar in Minnesota by far, producing some 865 megawatts of power, or more than the amount of power from residential, commercial and industrial solar combined. The Department of Commerce has approved 48.5 megawatts of new solar gardens so far this year, with another 6.3 megawatts under review. A 5-acre solar farm typically produces about 1 megawatt of energy.