How one small community is going big on solar

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/how-one-small-community-is-going-big-on-solar/

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A rural cooperative is about to cook up Iowa’s biggest solar array — in the aptly named community of Frytown.

The local board of supervisors recently rezoned nine acres of land owned by the Farmers Electric Co-op, which is planning to build a 500-kilowatt array at the site. Co-op officials say construction could be finished by March, meeting 15 percent of the power needs of its 600 members in eastern Iowa.

“It keeps our money local,” said Warren McKenna, the co-op’s general manager, according to The Daily Iowan. “We’re not sending our money up to the larger companies. [It] saves everybody money.” Johnson County planning and zoning official RJ Moore said the solar farm would be the only one of its kind in the state.

[ladjf]

1. If this first phase works out well, they should continue to expand until it meets 100% of their need