Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency Board Approves Solar Plus Storage Agreement
April 5, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 5, 2023
The Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency’s Board of Directors has approved a build-own-transfer agreement with US Solar for the development and construction of the Marshall Solar Plus project in Marshall, Minnesota. The action followed a recommendation by the Missouri River Energy Services Board of Directors.
The solar project will have a rated capacity of 10 megawatts and is expected to produce about 22,470 megawatt-hours of electricity annually. Marshall Solar Plus will include over 26,000 solar panels on 57 acres of land owned by WMMPA and a substation owned by Marshall Municipal Utilities.
WMMPA will also install a 5 MW battery energy storage system. WMMPA intends to have controls on the battery system to allow energy to be stored or injected into the grid based on conditions at the time.
Site-grading work has already begun and will be completed prior to construction of the project. US Solar will obtain state and local permits for the project as it develops, designs and constructs the project. US Solar was selected in part because of their substantial track record in Minnesota, having developed and completed over 85 individual projects.
WMMPA expects to submit an application to MMU in the near future with the intent to finalize an interconnection agreement. WMMPA will provide financing for the project.
WMMPA is a joint-action agency made up of MRES members in Minnesota. It has provided financing for all of the major generation and transmission facilities with which MRES serves its 61-member municipal electric systems in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
MRES has a power supply agreement with WMMPA obligating MRES to pay for and WMMPA to supply the entire output of WMMPA-owned facilities. MRES, in turn, has long-term power sales agreements with its members to supply them with wholesale power, energy and transmission to serve their customers.
MMU is a community-owned, not-for-profit municipal utility serving the residents and businesses of Marshall, Minnesota. MMU provides electricity and water service to over 6,500 customers, along with a variety of energy services.