Cooperative Energy Futures – Lake Elmo

The Project

Cooperative Energy Futures is a member-owned cooperative that exists to make clean energy accessible to all. The cooperative develops and operates community solar gardens, with 13 projects across Minnesota that offset the electricity needs of more than 1,500 member households, as well as affordable housing solar projects that serve low- and moderate-income renters and homeowners.

With philanthropic financing from the BQuest Foundation and in collaboration with the SunForAll Program, Cooperative Energy Futures in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, is now home to a community solar garden that spans roughly seven acres and has 180 community solar subscribers. This means the project will provide clean energy to 180 members and will offer guaranteed monthly bill savings through Cooperative Energy Futures’ accessible, no-upfront-cost membership model.

The community solar garden is nearly 1224 kW and is expected to save its members $3,589,290 over its lifetime. The site, which used to be used as a monocropped cornfield, has been revitalized into a regenerative landscape filled with native pollinator plants and tended through sustainable sheep grazing.

Cooperative Energy Futures has a strong focus on economic and racial justice, working to ensure that all projects are developed using an economic model that is deeply accessible to members regardless of income or credit. This includes options with no upfront cost and guaranteed monthly savings, as well as a commitment to advancing workforce equity in the energy industry. Cooperative Energy Futures uses member participation in its projects to build community wealth and bring people together from many different communities around a shared vision for an energy future rooted in community-controlled clean energy.