Dairyland Power has signed an agreement with Minnesota-Three, LLC, to purchase the renewable energy produced by a planned large solar facility, to be located along U.S. Highway 52 north of Rochester, Minn.

The new solar installation will be 517 kilowatts (kW), and could produce enough energy to power nearly 60 homes. The facility will be located in the Oronoco Crossings business park and interconnected to People’s Energy Cooperative power delivery system. Construction of the solar facility is scheduled to begin this spring and planned to be operational by June 1, 2014. The solar installation will be developed, owned and managed by Minnesota-Three, LLC, owned by three Dairyland member cooperatives: Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services (Albert Lea, Minn.), People’s Energy Cooperative (Oronoco, Minn.) and Tri-County Electric Cooperative (Rushford, Minn.).

“The development of this solar project complements Dairyland’s current renewable energy resources, which provide about 12 percent of our members’ energy,” said Bill Berg, President and CEO. “Expanding solar resources is consistent with Dairyland’s strategic intent to diversify our energy resources portfolio.”