November Breakfast: Battery and Solar at Mi Energy Cooperative

Winneshiek Energy District invites everyone interested in learning more about utility-scale solar and residential battery storage to the November Energy Breakfast, Tuesday, November 20^th, 7:30 am at Tbocks Underground.

Attendance is free, registration is requested (at www.energydistrict.org/breakfast), and a breakfast buffet is available for a fee if enough register and choose the option.

The speaker this month will be Brian Krambeer, President and CEO of the member-owned MiEnergy Cooperative. Brian will explain an innovative pilot project to test the benefits of battery storage. As part of the pilot, four 16 kilowatt-hour smart battery storage systems are being installed at homes of co-op members.

“We want to gain a better understanding of battery technology on a small scale, like a residential home,” said Brian Krambeer. “We will be testing the batteries for use as a tool for energy management. It’s an opportunity to see how it could benefit our members.”

Being able to seamlessly switch a home’s electric source from the grid to a battery and back could help the cooperative manage electricity during peak energy periods. As an added benefit, the battery could provide backup power during power outages.

Krambeer will also provide an update on the new 1.5 megawatt solar array that Dairyland and MiEnergy have planned for west of Decorah. The project is part of a series of 18 utility-owned solar arrays totalling 25 megawatts that Dairyland is adding to its resource portfolio in 2016-19. The array will include a tracking system, and the site will include a pollinator garden and other conservation practices.

MiEnergy is the product of a recent merger between Hawkeye REC in Iowa, and Tri-County REC in Minnesota. With offices in Cresco and Rushford, MiEnergy serves 18,700 customers and is the largest distribution cooperative member of the Dairyland Power generation and transmission cooperative based in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.