Hi Folks,
The next meeting of the Ely Climate Group will be on Tuesday March 11th at 4pm at the Ely Field Naturalists Resource Center above the NAPA store. As usual this meeting will be in person and by zoom.
The topic this week is the amazing solar array and storage in Grand Rapids. This facility covers 15 acres and generates 2MW of power with a storage capability of 1MW using a 2.5 hour Li-Ion battery. The array provides 10% of Grand Rapids electrical power and came online in June 2023. Bill Schnell and Art Norton, who were among the prime movers in the project, will describe their odyssey from inception to completion. Here is some background info. https://cityofgrandrapidsmn.com/sites/default/files/fileattachments/public_utilities/page/2870/solar_open_house_2023.pdf
Why doesn’t Ely have one of these?
Here is the zoom link:
Topic: Ely Climate Group meeting
Time: Mar 11, 2025 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82050545107?pwd=jAorAGabRFCXlLjU71Cf51GpuEeWay.1
Meeting ID: 820 5054 5107
Passcode: 772812
Note that we may have the opportunity to arrange a visit to the site in the next few months, when the snow has melted. Let us know if you would want to join and form a car pool.
In addition to learning about the GR array, we will take a few minutes to look at the potential sale of Allete/MN Power to a private equity fund. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is starting a series of hearings to gather opinions from MN Power consumers and others. A similar acquisition of an electric utility in northern Michigan resulted in large rises in energy costs. Note that Ely, like Grand Rapids, has a city run utility that buys its power from MN Power so this is relevant to us. Hudson has been working on this issue and will give us a brief review of the situation.
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