New Solar Energy Project Slated For Northern Minnestoa -- February 24, 2016

From an August 25, 2014, post, this is 30-second sound bite for "cost of renewable megawatt":

• Solar: $3 million / MW
• Wind: $2.5 million / MW
• Natural gas: $865,000 / MW

indiacountrytodaymedianetwork is reporting:

The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians has signed a formal agreement with the Winkelman Building Corp. and Innovative Power Systems Inc. to design, engineer, procure, construct and manage solar energy projects for the three Red Lake casinos and various other tribal government buildings.

Red Lake will install 15 megawatts—equal to 15 million watts—worth of solar panels across the rooftops of the band’s largest buildings. When they’re done, the panels will generate enough power to light every bulb in the tribe’s three casinos, the tribal college and all government buildings. The ultimate goal is to generate enough solar power on tribal land to supply every home on Red Lake within five years. 

The Red Lake solar power plan is divided into three phases. Phase I will cover three casinos, the Red Lake Government Center, Red Lake Nation College, the Justice Center Complex, the Humanities Facility and other large buildings. It involves installing $20 million to $30 million in solar energy equipment and providing solar energy training for the Red Lake workforce.

But there's more:

Phase II will be the development of solar energy farms on ceded lands up north and will consist of 40 to 100 acres of solar panels that will provide 10 to 20 megawatts of electricity to be sold to the grid, thus producing a steady revenue stream for years to come for the tribe.

The solar array will help Minnesota Power comply with the state’s new solar mandate. It represents a part of the solar power that Minnesota Power needs to add by 2020 under a new law requiring investor-owned electric utilities to get 1.5 percent of their energy from the sun. Coops like Beltrami Electric are not subject to the same mandate. 

Phase III will be the development of a solar energy plant that will produce solar equipment for the industry, while providing jobs assembling solar panels for the members of Red Lake Nation. 

Eighty percent of phase one will be completed by the end of 2016.

Funding:

Winkelman estimates the cost at upwards of $20 million. 

The band itself will only pay only $100,000 for the project, with the vast majority of costs shouldered by the Olson Energy Corporation, which specializes in shuttling solar developers through the government incentive system. 

Olson Energy has developed a financial plan to assist in addressing the financial needs for solar energy development. U.S. tax law provides a variety of benefits to developers and owners of renewable energy projects, since non-taxed entities such as units of government cannot benefit directly from these incentives.