Solar, Sourcing Renewables  -  March 9, 2020

University of Nebraska-Kearney invests in community solar

The University of Nebraska-Kearney plans on going carbon neutral by 2050 and has invested in a nearby solar farm in order to reach this goal.

UNK signed a 25-year agreement with a community solar farm run by the Nebraska Public Power District, under which they will receive 51% of the solar farm’s output and cover 27% of the campus’ electricity needs, the local ABC station reported.

“We thought over the terms of the 25 years, we save an excess of a quarter million dollars and so it's a bit more up-front cost but long-term we see this as a financial decision for the institution,” Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance Jon Watts told the station. “As administrators, I think we have a duty and responsibility to evaluate any chance we can to help us move more towards climate neutral.”

NPPD developed the farm at the encouragement of the City of Kearney so that it was accessible to residents and commercial and industrial users. Consumers are able to claim shares of the project, of which there are now 1,500 left of the 7,000 that were originally up for grabs. UNK is one of the biggest shareholders of the project.

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