MLCV Breaks Ground on Solar Array at Grounds of Grand Casino Hinckley
A unique partnership with a goal of equitable member access to renewable energy was solidified when a 3-megawatt solar array broke ground on October 14 near the Grand National Golf Club on the grounds of Grand Casino Hinckley.
Joe Nayquonabe, Chief Executive Officer of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, shared that this had been a project years in the making. He thanked East Central Energy and NextEra for their creative collaboration with MLCV, as well as the expertise of the consultants of this project, Kinect Energy. Nayquonabe also shared his appreciation to Mille Lacs Band elected officials – specifically Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin who was in attendance, as well as Representative Wally St. John who inspired this project. “We will reduce the carbon footprint of our facilities and operations and create a future with cleaner facilities for generations to come,” said Nayquonabe. “This is a great step forward.”
Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin shared that the Mille Lacs Band has a history of caring deeply about communities and environment and this project highlights a very long-term benefit to the community and the region. In closing, Chief Executive Benjamin shared one of her favorite quotes by Paul Well- stone, “We all do better when we all do better.”
A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources will develop, operate, and own the solar array; East Central Energy (ECE) will purchase the array’s output and sell to Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV) for a defined period. MLCV is leasing the land to NextEra for free over the next 30 years. The project is expected to be complete by summer 2022.
The transaction will keep Grand Casino Hinckley on their load control program, while allowing ECE to stay within the terms of its contract with its power supplier, Great River Energy.
The project will impact the Mille Lacs Band and Hinckley communities by helping reduce the region’s carbon footprint. For MLCV, investing in renewable energy resources as a tribally owned entity aligns with its corporate values. The solar array will offset the equivalent of taking nearly 900 cars off the road for a year.
The solar array will be sited in a way that captures the maximum amount of daily sunlight. Single-axis panels will tilt and track the sun as it moves through the sky from east to west, which is important because it will generate output late in the day, which is typically when energy demand peaks; it’s also the most expensive time of day to purchase energy from the market.
