Tapping both wind and solar energy, particularly when co-located, can enhance and stabilize power grid performance, according to Juhl Energy.

Juhl points to a small, hybrid wind-solar power system it installed in a cornfield in northwestern Minnesota to illustrate the benefits to utility grids such installations can provide. “It delivers low-cost clean energy right to where the power is being consumed, and it leads to the retention of energy dollars in the community,” company board of director chairman Dan Juhl, was quoted in a local news report.

Lacking scale, small projects are generally more difficult to finance, however, the news report points out. State utility regulators initially delayed a $10 million community wind-solar project Juhl has proposed to develop in Red Falls, Minnesota. The project is now tied up in federal court.

Brian Ross, director of the Great Plains Institute, sees renewable industry participants moving in the direction of developing more projects that co-locate wind and solar power generation, as well as include battery-based energy storage, nonetheless. “The Juhl development is interesting and unique in its integration on the same site,” he was quoted. “I think this hybrid model is something the industry is going toward on both a small scale and large scale."