5.6 Megawatt Solar Project Unveiled On Iron Range

Minnesota Power project near Hoyt Lakes will produce enough energy for 1,100 homes.

HOYT LAKES, Minn. — Another step toward more solar energy took place on the Iron Range Friday.

Minnesota Power unveiled and showed-off the second of its three new solar projects. This one is near Hoyt Lakes and is known as the Laskin Solar Project. It will generate enough energy to power 1,100 homes a year. There was a lot of excitement at the ribbon-cutting, because it was part of an accelerated series of solar projects approved by the state Public Utilities Commission to generate jobs after the pandemic.

“It is a great example. We have renewable energy, eventually it will lower customer’s energy bills,” said Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner, Katie Sieben. “There’s pollinator habitat. Heliene was instrumental in manufacturing and bringing this project to fruition. And of course, most importantly, what the commission was focused on when we initiated this proceeding and this docket, ‘How do we get Minnesotans back to work?'” said Sieben.

Minnesota Power says the project created thirty-one union construction jobs, and the almost fifteen thousand solar panels were made by the Heliene facility in Mountain Iron. The site can generate five point six megawatts of power.

“More than sixty percent of the energy that Minnesota Power generates across its system serves the Iron Range mines,” said Bethany Owen, Chair, President & CEO of Minnesota Power’s parent company, Allete.

“So, this project, and all the renewable energy that Minnesota Power produces, is helping make the steel that comes from the iron ore here on the Iron Range, the cleanest steel in the world,” said Owen.

The other two projects are the Jean Duluth Solar Project, which began operating late last year, and the Sylvan Solar Project near Brainerd, which the company plans to have fully up and running later this year.