Solar  -  August 19, 2021

Univ. of Minnesota Student Housing Co-Ops Get 400 kW of Rooftop Solar

Riverton Community Housing, a student accommodation site near the University of Minnesota, recently completed four solar arrays on its buildings.

The solar installations are expected to provide 400 kW of generation capacity to offset the energy on the facilities’ common area meters. The project should offset nearly 450,000 kWh of electricity in the first year, with 7,000 metric tons of CO2 projected to be avoided over the project’s 25-year life.

The arrays were constructed across the four housing co-ops by All Energy Solar, with financing provided by Blue Flame Energy Finance and DSD Renewables.

The properties are owned by Riverton and operate through independent co-ops that make decisions about the buildings’ sustainability initiatives.

“The Riverton housing cooperatives have always had a concern for the communities in which they are located and the environment around them. Our co-op members and staff are always looking for ways to reduce our environmental footprint,” Mary Novak, executive director of Riverton Community Housing, said in a statement. “Adding solar to our buildings was not only the right thing to do, but was a fairly easy process with our project partners. We hope other multi-family owners will learn about the process and do the same thing.”