The Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, or RREAL, partnered with Minnesota Power and Tri-County Community Action Partnership to bring the benefits of community solar to low-income, disabled veterans.
Together, RREAL and TCC installed a community solar array at the TCC headquarters in Little Falls. Minnesota Power will credit the solar energy savings from the array to 10 income-qualified disabled veterans. Project partners will conduct a three-year feasibility study to evaluate the program.
This model is a continuation of RREAL’s Community Solar for Community Action nationally scalable model, which was a 2019 winner of the Department of Energy’s Solar in Your Community Challenge.
“We are grateful for this partnership with TCC, Minnesota Power, and the Initiative Foundation that is bringing solar energy savings to empower local low-income, disabled veterans,” REAL Program Developer Erica Bjelland said in a news release.
This project was funded in part by Minnesota Power and the Initiative Foundation, a regional community foundation. TCC received a grant from the Clean Energy Resource Teams to work on education and the processes of this initiative.