How to Get Solar Power in Minnesota Without a Rooftop System

By Austin Gangestad, SunShare Subscriber

Community Solar is a great option

Life always has a funny way of timing its opportunities.

A few months ago, Austin Gangestad and his fiancée had the grand ambition of purchasing a ‘Tiny Home’, the most recent minimalist housing trend. Ideally, they wanted to install solar panels onto their Tiny Home, and live their lives with virtually no carbon footprint.

Unfortunately, their plans for a Tiny Home fell through and they had to settle for purchasing a normal home. “I love our home, but its roof lacks the compatibility for solar panel installation. So there they were – a normal couple in a normal home using brown power.”

SunShare Community Solar Gardens have no upfront costs

Then, by the beauty of social media, Austin found out about Community Solar with SunShare. SunShare provides Xcel Energy customers with the ability to enroll in one of their many solar gardens in development across Minnesota. By enrolling in a SunShare solar garden, Austin and his fiancée can subscribe to the amount of solar power needed to off-set their home’s energy and see solar bill credits that actually end up lowering their utility bills, resulting in savings.

“It’s a no-brainer!” said Austin. “I can’t see any negatives to it. We save money, use renewable energy, and there are no upfront costs.” The process of signing up with SunShare is simple and easy. It’s just a matter of a few papers to sign.

Community Solar, more so than Tiny Homes, is becoming the new housing trend. It’s a simply ingenious way get clean, affordable solar power.

If you live in Minnesota and are a current Xcel Energy customer and would like more information about our solar program, please call us at 800.793.0786, or contact via email at info@MySunShare.com