Business View Magazine | June 2022

30 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 Energy, Apadana Solar Technologies, and Go Solar, all of whom handle most of our installation,” says DenHerder-Thomas. While building and commissioning solar garden projects can seem like the difficult part of CEF’s work, the real work is community outreach, which, as DenHerder-Thomas admits, takes more than just knocking on people’s front doors. He notes, “People typically do not understand how solar gardens work or how they can benefit from subscribing. What has helped is partnering with community-based organizations and doing a lot of our outreach through them. For something unfamiliar, an existing relationship and a trusted messenger will be way more effective than somebody you don’t know advertising something that sounds too good to be true.” However, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down outreach efforts that were previously in- person gatherings and meetings with partner organizations and their members. According CEF’s hyperlocal approach is creating a network effect at a grassroots level, where some community members subscribe and spread the news, bringing in more community members and helping entrench the project in the community. Cooperative Energy Futures has eight community solar gardens in operation, serving around seven hundred members collectively. They include Shiloh Temple International Ministries (204kW), City of Edina (664kW), Clark’s Grove (332kW), Pax Christi /Eden Prairie (216kW), Saint Cloud (1.3MW), Ramp A Parking Lot (1.3MW), Waseca (1MW), and Faribault (1.3MW). “We’re in the process of developing another six community solar gardens,” says DenHerder-Thomas, “and this year, we’re starting solar for affordable housing, installing solar panels on the roofs of around 75 multifamily, affordable houses.” CEF contracts local solar installation companies to complete all the installation works. “We collaborate with companies like Cedar Creek