Business View Magazine | June 2022

27 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 COOPERAT I VE ENERGY FUTURES dramatic legislative and market changes that are happening in the energy sector right now.” Founded in 2009, CEF is a community solar energy cooperative based in Minneapolis and serving communities across Minnesota. It is on a mission to empower communities across Minnesota to build energy democracy through solutions that are ‘clean, local, and ours’. One such solution, which is at the heart of the organization’s daily operations, is solar gardens. “Solar gardens are solar arrays owned and operated by communities that sell power to local utilities, returning benefits to members in energy bill rebates,” explains DenHerder-Thomas. Solar gardens work like other cooperative projects. First, CEF leases farmland or commercial roofing space and installs a solar array. Next, community members subscribe to a percentage of solar from available arrays to cover their monthly or annual electricity usage. At the end of every month, each subscriber gets a credit against their utility bill based on the electricity created by their share of the solar garden. While solar gardens have a proven business model, gaining adoption in local communities is not without its fair share of challenges. “There are some barriers to achieving higher levels of coverage,” says DenHerder-Thomas. “A fundamental one is how financing and the federal investment infrastructure for renewable energy work, requiring ownership and financing by large third parties with a lot of tax liability, is making it much harder for smaller entities to participate. Securing installation sites is another issue because of growing competition to secure good ground-mount sites coupled with hesitance from commercial building owners to make a 25-year commitment to lease their roof, even if they don’t have to make an upfront investment.” DenHerder-Thomas adds that utility policies also hamper solar gardens because utilities are opposed to third parties and community-based groups developing energy sources that compete with their monopolies. “One last issue I’ll mention is community adoption,” he says. “Some people don’t understand the long-term benefits