A farm family in Minnesota makes money from solar energy thanks to innovative energy solutions – InForum

ST. CHARLES, Minn. — In rural southern Minnesota, there is a gap between maintaining traditional farmland and increasing renewable energy production.

For one fifth-generation farming family, making money from solar energy is a no-brainer. Ralph and Mena Kaehler founded Novel Energy Solutions in 2012. Their son, Cliff Kaehler, is the CEO of Novel Energy Solutions.

This year was the 143rd year of operation of the Kaehler family farm in St. Charles, Minnesota, where there is a single solar panel at the entrance to the facility.

Cliff Kaehler returned to the farm in 2012 after working on the East Coast for Credit Suisse’s renewable energy division, Export-Import Bank and the American Council on Renewable Energy. Ralph Kaehler remembers how excited his son was about solar energy when he came home.

“He said this could make a difference in our rural communities, restore some income and do the right thing in the future,” Ralph Kaehler said of his son. “We can make money and do what’s right. It’s not a matter of either or.”

Novel Energy Solutions is currently the largest local solar developer in Minnesota. According to Inc. magazine’s annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the US. Magazine, the company grew 163% from 2019-23

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Minnesota ranks 13th in total installed solar power in the U.S., with 2,796 solar PV units installed. That’s enough solar energy to power 387,054 homes.

On May 13, at his family farm, Ralph Kaehler denied rumors that solar panels can be easily broken by hitting one with his hand. And when his grandchildren arrive, they use the board as a jungle gym and slide (which he doesn’t recommend).

“For me, using renewable energy is just an extension of our rural upbringing, and the way we were raised – it’s just a new industry,” Kaehler said. “It’s like one old farmer told me when I was selling feed: ‘Everyone is for progress; it’s just changes we don’t like.”

What infuriates Kaehler is the news that solar energy will replace the country’s productive farmland.

“It’s the biggest misnomer in the world,” he said.

However, this opinion is believed by many in southeastern Minnesota.

According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, there are approximately 25.5 million acres of agricultural land in Minnesota, with approximately 17.3 million acres considered prime. Solar farms are often built on prime agricultural land, which is the case in southeastern Minnesota.

Last year, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved a permit for the $256 million Byron Solar Project, which will cover more than 1,500 acres in the Canisteo community in Dodge County.

According to a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, about 90% of farmland cultivated in Dodge County is considered prime agricultural land. The project in the municipality of Canisteo will cover approximately 1,080 acres of prime agricultural land, representing just over two-thirds of the site.

During the public hearing prior to approval, commenters expressed concern about the effects of taking prime agricultural land off the market on farmers and the local economy.

Canisteo County Supervisor Neil Witzel told the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission that the project would bring “very productive farmland” out of the township.

“It will have a big impact on whether people can lease land,” Witzel said. “They will have to transport their tractors and equipment longer distances to the farm.”

Dan Glessing, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau, said that to create more opportunities for young and emerging farmers, a balance must be found between energy supplies – especially solar farms – and productive farmland.

“Some of the solar panels being installed on farmland are somewhat concerning,” Glessing said last fall. “We all support private property rights, but how can we ensure that the land continues to be available for future generations to farm and ranch?”

Minnesota Farm Bureau members aren’t the only ones skeptical of solar taking over farmlands.

Last year, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar visited a Dodge County Farmers Association meeting to ask questions and comments about the Farm Bill, but instead heard about various solar energy projects and their impact on the region.

“If you turn off production on 1,500 acres, 10 acres here and 20 acres there, that production will affect all the other entities that are open to agricultural assistance, such as fertilizer plants, elevators and truck drivers,” said Rodney Peterson, president of the county Farmers Association Dodge. – It’s kind of trickle down.

Solar and wind power began replacing productive farmland about a decade ago in Dodge County, Peterson said. Thanks to clean energy legislation passed by the state Legislature last year, Minnesota utilities are required to be 100% carbon-free by 2040.

“They have been slow to come to Dodge County, especially when they passed bills to help defray the costs of housing them,” Peterson said. “No one is delivering anything there and no one is putting any stuff on the ground, so it’s just dormant and there’s just power flowing through some of the power lines and we’re not seeing much production of anything.”

Solar energy carries fewer risks than traditional farm crops, said Ralph Kaehler, who called solar energy a “25-year conservation project.”

“It produces more income than corn and soybeans, and landowners earn four to five times more without risk and on a long-term contract,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you support this for any young farmer or anyone who is trying to make a generational change on their land, like we did on our farm?”

According to Kaehler, up to 10 acres of land would be needed to build a megawatt system.

“Typically, you get 7 to 10 acres of solar per megawatt, and you get about $1,000 a year with a 25-year warranty,” he said. “This will make the utility company a very safe customer – they won’t leave.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, building solar farms involves clearing and grading large areas of land, which can lead to “substantial erosion and significant sediment runoff into waterways if on-site stormwater controls are inadequate.”

Kaehler compared the photovoltaic structure by Novel Energy Solutions to farming on a conventional farm.

“(Solar) is in no way inferior to conventional farming or even strip farming. When rain falls at the wrong time on the wrong soil, the rain moves,” he said. “But on flat land, once our seeds are buried, we don’t touch the ground for 25 years. It’s very rare to see a hill washed clean of grass.”

Kaehler said people are deterred from solar by “the fear of something new” and the fact that solar developers can pay more to lease land than the average farmer. Then there’s the sight of solar panels in areas where people are used to seeing combines and farmland.

“For new ones, people say, ‘I’m all for renewable energy, but I don’t want it in the field across from my house.’ I want to eat pork, but I don’t want a barn next to where I live. We’ve heard all this nonsense before,” Kaehler said.

For Kaehler and his family, solar energy is a way to keep farmland in the family and pass it on to the next generation.

“My generation, when we graduated from high school and college, I never worried about the future of the world — I wanted to have a career,” Kaehler said. “Go ask any 20-year-old now, if they’re worried about their future, they’ll tell you they’re scared to death.”

“My grandchildren, that’s why I’m building this, this is what I’m doing for them, so they are the future and if you’re not thinking about the future or you’re not thinking about the people who will come after you, then fight solar and keep your head high,” he said.

MINNESOTA: It ranks 13th in total installed solar energy in the US
Total installed solar power (MW): 2796.09
Sufficient solar energy has been installed to power: 387,054 houses
Currently operating photovoltaic companies: 168

NORTH DAKOTA: Ranks last in total installed solar energy in the US
Total installed solar power (MW): 1.92
Sufficient solar energy has been installed to power: 190 houses
Currently operating photovoltaic companies: 8

SOUTH DAKOTA: It ranks 47th in total installed solar energy in the US
Total installed solar power (MW): 101.86
Sufficient solar energy has been installed to power: 11,998 houses
Currently operating photovoltaic companies: 14

IOWA: It ranks 35th in total installed solar energy in the US
Total installed solar power (MW): 601.13
Sufficient solar energy has been installed to power: 76,085 houses
Currently operating photovoltaic companies: 81

WISCONSIN: It ranks 18th in total installed solar energy in the US
Total installed solar power (MW): 2204.12
Sufficient solar energy has been installed to power: 369,766
Currently operating photovoltaic companies: 181

(Statistics from the Solar Energy Industry Association.)