Anything worth achieving is hard. It requires dedication, focus, and perseverance. And sometimes a little luck. Osprey Wilds’ clean energy focus began 20 years ago. Yet, it wasn’t until this fall with the addition of a 716 kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic system that we finally reached our goal of producing 100% of our electricity on-site through renewable sources. As a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit environmental learning center, Osprey Wilds reaches over 15,000 people annually through our wide-ranging accredited environmental education programs. Located on Grindstone Lake, near Sandstone, MN, our campus resides on 783 acres of beautiful forests, prairies and wetlands. This ideal setting, accompanied by our overnight lodging and dining facilities, allows us to connect K-12 students, youth, family and adults to nature for multiple days at a time, providing truly immersive, meaningful connections to the environment. At our core, we believe it is our responsibility to model sustainable environmental practices for others to learn from. This includes how we steward the land, how we use energy, how we produce food, and the products we use. Our goal is always to reduce our impact on the planet, lessen our carbon footprint, and teach our audience what they can do in turn with their lives. We strive to create environmental ripple marks and we achieve that through our mission of instilling a connection and commitment to the environment in people of all communities through experiential learning.
The path down our clean energy focus began in 2004, when we secured a federal Housing & Urban Development (HUD) grant to install a 65-ton geothermal ground-source heat pump system to cool and heat our two main buildings. This eliminated our usage of propane to heat the two buildings, and shifted our energy needs to run the heat pumps on electricity. With the realization that our overall energy usage was lower, but our electricity needs were now higher, we sought out adding renewable energy sources to produce the electricity we used. From 2005 to 2015, we were successful in obtaining grants to add over 39 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic arrays to supply about 20% of our total campus electricity needs. During that time, we also added 29 solar hot water panels for domestic use in heating the water used for our dormitory showers and sinks, and our commercial kitchen, made a campus-wide LED lighting upgrade, added blown cellulose insulation to improve the R-value of our buildings, and upgraded our HVAC control systems. But to cover the remaining 300,000 kilowatt hours of electricity we were still using annually, we knew we needed to do something big to achieve our goals of becoming carbon neutral.
In 2019, we reached out to a solar company to help us achieve that goal. Over the next several months, I worked with them on a plan of adding 248 kW of solar photovoltaic arrays, distributed across multiple solar-compatible locations on our property that would produce the kilowatts needed to cover our annual energy usage. We worked with our local bank to secure terms for a loan that would finance the cost of the system, and met with our local electric cooperative East Central Energy about how this could work. This proposed system would put us well over 40 kW on our account, the kW threshold in Minnesota for net-metering. Coming to the realization that this proposal wouldn’t allow for net metering with our system meant ultimately it wouldn’t work economically for Osprey Wilds, as we would have been reliant on the net-metered income for the months we overproduced to cover the loan expenses we were looking to take on to finance the project. If we could have purchased the system outright and not had to worry about cash flowing the loan, net metering wouldn’t have made a big difference. It was a learning process, and whetted my appetite to see if there was some other way we could collaborate with East Central Energy to achieve our energy goals and theirs.
We all know what happened in March 2020. Our lives were upended by the impact of COVID-19, and in many ways the world is forever changed from that pandemic. Our focus at Osprey Wilds shifted to institutional survival and how we could sustain as an organization that is designed around and reliant on immersive, shared experiences with people. For a solid year, we had no program revenue from in-person K-12 schools, a devastating loss for us, only enhanced by the sadness in knowing that thousands of children looking forward to that multi-day nature experience at Osprey Wilds were missing out. We were fortunate to secure federal grants from the rescue packages passed, and stayed afloat. As things slowly began coming back and operations returned closer to normal, the time was right to re-engage with East Central Energy and their CEO Justin Jahnz to see what might be possible. Those talks in 2022 led to an idea – a three party power purchase agreement among Osprey Wilds, East Central Energy and a solar provider, with the solar provider owning and operating the system on Osprey Wilds property and selling the electricity to East Central Energy, who then would sell it to Osprey Wilds. For it to work, we needed an interested solar provider who would be able to sell the solar electricity generated at rates that would be make financial sense for East Central Energy to purchase, while still being high enough that it was profitable for the solar provider, yet also low enough that Osprey Wilds could afford to purchase the electricity from East Central Energy. It was a proposal that would require threading a needle to find financial terms that could work for all parties, but it was also exciting and definitely worth the effort to see if we could make it happen.
During this time period, Osprey Wilds also completed a conservation easement with the Minnesota Land Trust on 460 acres of our campus. That conservation easement, coupled with previous land protections, meant over 85% of our campus was permanently protected. It was something our organization was proud to have accomplished, and aligned very strongly with our environmental values of treading lightly on the planet, and protecting natural resources in perpetuity. During this conservation easement process, I knew I wanted to leave open the ability to add a large solar photovoltaic system on our campus for the eventual goal of producing 100% of our electricity onsite. For an optimal solar capacity location, as well as making a strong first impression for visitors, we landed on a 3-acre exemption in our 20-acre tallgrass prairie, noticeable on your left hand side as soon as you pull into Osprey Wilds’ driveway. The 3-acre exemption was large enough for a 250 kW system, capable of supplying all of our electricity needs.
But as we began working with East Central Energy on the RFP (request for proposal) for the solar project at Osprey Wilds, I learned that this was a relatively small space to work with, as providers would be interested in putting up a larger system to reach the economies of scale necessary to lower the cost of the project and make it financially attractive. Examining the size of the exemption, it was determined that the largest a system could be was approximately 700 kW. While this seemed very large to me, many commercial solar installers are looking at systems with production levels two to ten times that size to make projects financially viable.
With that knowledge, I was worried if we would get any proposals that would fit within the financial parameters needed for it to work for East Central Energy and Osprey Wilds. In the spring of 2023, we received proposals back from multiple solar companies. But unfortunately and somewhat predictably, all the numbers were far higher than what East Central Energy could afford to purchase, and in turn, what Osprey Wilds could as well. With that deflating realization, we talked openly with the company that had been the closest in their proposal, Soltek, Inc., about our desire to find a way with this project. We shared the benefits we saw for their company to be able to partner with East Central Energy and an environmental learning center that hosts and educates thousands of participants each year, and the impact they could have on those individuals with this inspiring project. Shawn Markham, Soltek’s CEO, took that passion of ours to heart, and over the ensuing months kept diligently trying to find ways to reduce the cost of the project to make it viable.
In March of 2024, I got a message from Shawn that we should talk. Conditions had shifted dramatically within the solar industry in the past 12 months. Changes made by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in the fall of 2023 were taking effect April 15th that were reducing the daytime compensation for rooftop solar for homeowners by about 75%, making it much less affordable for individuals to add solar. As a result, the solar industry was struggling. Shawn now had access to materials and equipment that he could get for half the price he could a year ago, dramatically lowering the cost of the proposed Osprey Wilds system and thus lowering the rate at which he could sell electricity to East Central Energy. Concurrently, he had also applied for a Renewable Energy in America Program (REAP) grant through the USDA and was awaiting word on its status. By the end of June, Shawn got word that he’d received the REAP grant, and with the savings he was realizing with the lower priced materials for the project, he could offer a rate that fit for East Central Energy and their cooperative members, and for Osprey Wilds. The solar dream was going to happen!
Soon solar materials were being delivered to Osprey Wilds, and all three parties worked on crafting power purchase and land lease agreements for project terms to become official. The end result would be a win-win-win. Soltek would own and operate the system, selling affordable electricity to East Central Energy, while creating a 30-year source of guaranteed income. East Central Energy would expand their ability to purchase affordable, clean, and locally sourced electricity for their members. Lastly, Osprey Wilds would achieve its carbon goals, and save money with favorable electricity rates secured for the next 30 years.
Installation of the eventual 716 kW prairie solar garden began late July and was completed in just three weeks. East Central Energy recently completed the installation of the transfer station next to the system, which will feed into their phase three line only a few hundred feet away. The system went live at 1 pm on October 11, and will now produce 1,000,000 kWh (1,000 megawatt hours) annually, more than three times Osprey Wilds’ current electricity demands. The large production level of the system will set us up for future campus expansions that can remain carbon neutral. In the meantime, the majority of the electricity generated will actually go to our neighbors, providing them with clean, locally produced electricity at no increased expense to them.
The prairie solar garden is nestled within prairie grasses and wildflowers, allowing native ecosystems to coincide with energy production. In addition, the solar garden is bordered by a woven wire fence perimeter, which will allow us to partner with local sheep producers to add pastured livestock and agriculture into the mix, creating three sustainable land uses simultaneously.
With this project’s completion, we will now boast the largest solar photovoltaic system of any nature center or environmental learning center in the nation. It is a tangible example of what can happen when you work with others – you are able to achieve something greater than you could on your own. A rising tide lifts all boats, and it is our hope that this project demonstrates to our guests our commitment to the planet, and that it inspires them to pursue ways they can reduce their carbon footprint and climate change impact. We share a beautiful planet, one of unimaginable beauty, that is worth fighting for. When you love something, you take care of it, and at Osprey Wilds, this prairie solar garden is our latest pledge to the Earth that we are doing what we can to take care of it. We encourage you to do what you can for the planet as well.
Osprey Wilds is open to the public with over 10 miles of hiking and cross-country ski trails at no charge. Visit us to see our prairie solar garden, check out our live animal ambassadors, shop our gift shop, learn about upcoming programs, or simply enjoy a nature respite along the lake, in the woods, or on the prairie.
Bryan Wood strives to provide people with rewarding and meaningful environmental experiences. He has followed his passion for the outdoors through various positions over the years. Throughout all of them is rooted a deep desire to connect people to nature and inspire them to make a positive impact with their lives for the planet and its inhabitants.