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Saint John's Solar Farm
This system, hosted by Saint John’s Abbey and University, sits on four acres of land near the university campus. With a power rating of 400kW, Saint John’s Solar Farm is currently the largest in PV array Minnesota.
The solar farm consists of 1,820 solar modules mounted on a horizontal-axis tracking system. Having the solar panels “track” the sun increases the efficiency of the array. The modules sit on beams that rotate east to west on a horizontal axis throughout the day, following the path of the sun across the sky. The tracking system produces approximately 15% more energy than a typical static array. This is the first utility-scale linear tracking system in the Midwest.
The system will produce 575,000 kilowatt-hours annually (anticipated), offsetting about 20% of Saint John’s peak energy needs during the summer months and approximately 4% of their overall energy needs on an annual basis. This equals enough energy to power 65 homes.
Project installation began in September 2009 and the system was commissioned in December.
To view live monitoring data from the solar farm, click here. Visit St. John's Abbey online site for additional information. If you are interested in taking a tour of the solar farm, please click here. Project funding, in part, is provided by customers of Xcel Energy through a grant from the Renewable Development Fund.
The first photo is an aerial shot of the Saint John’s Solar Farm. The second photo is ground-level view of the trackers.
