Solar farm in the works in Denmark Township

A 40-acre spread of solar panels could be sprouting up on what is now farmland in Denmark Township as part of a $250 million statewide project to draw more energy from the sun.

The site is one of about two dozen scattered across 16 counties in Minnesota that are part of Edina-based Geronimo Energy's Aurora solar project, the largest of its type ever undertaken in the state.

Geronimo Energy plans to annually generate 100 megawatts of electricity across its network of solar farm sites, ranging in capacity from 1½ to 10 megawatts, which under current plans would be sold to Xcel Energy Inc. to help the utility company comply with a state mandate to get 1.5 percent of its power from the sun by the year 2020. Geronimo and Xcel have not yet reached an agreement.

The Denmark Township site, situated about a mile northeast of Hwy. 10 and Norrell Road S., would generate 5 megawatts of power. There are also four sites proposed in neighboring Chisago County, including a 7-megawatt solar array about 2 miles north of Forest Lake near the junction of Hwy. 61 and 250th St. N. in Wyoming and a 2.5-megawatt site just north of Scandia southeast of the intersection of Oldfield Av. N. and County Road 25.

Tena Rytel, the project manager, met earlier this year with the Denmark Township Board to explain the plans for the site, which is leased from the landowner.

According to the company's plans, the solar farm will comprise a dozen rows of about 60 photovoltaic panels, each about 3-by-5-feet in size that are mounted on posts driven into the ground and track the sun's path throughout the day. The panels will be about 8 feet above the ground and will not produce any odor or noticeable sound. The entire array will be fenced in.

Near the center of the operation will be a small, metal enclosure which contains an inverter, which turns the DC power created by the system into AC. All power collection and communication lines, Rytel told the board, are underground; the connection to the utility grid would connect wires either above or below the ground.

Both the township and the county would get modest tax revenue from the project. The energy generated by the project is taxed at a rate of $1.20 per megawatt-hour (about the amount of electricity used by 330 homes in one hour), with 80 percent going to the county and 20 percent to the township. The annual production tax in Denmark Township is estimated at $11,600. That's on top of a bump in property tax revenue resulting from the land being reclassified for commercial use, rather than agricultural use. Property taxes are expected to total $9,000 annually.

Energy generated at the solar farm will be enough to supply the needs of 1,008 homes. And the clean energy will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 6,673 metric tons a year, Gemini estimates.

The Gemini solar project is still several months from final approval. It is currently undergoing an environmental review. Comments on the review are being taken by the state Public Utilities Commission until Tuesday (for details, go to mn.gov/puc/).

After hearings later this winter, a decision on approval is expected in spring of 2015.

Jim Anderson • 651-925-5039 Twitter: @StribJAnderson