The energy that powers the St. Paul Fire Station on Randolph Avenue, the George Latimer Central Library in downtown St. Paul and the North Dale rec center will soon come from the sun.

City officials have negotiated an agreement with GreenMark Solar to power a fourth of St. Paul’s municipal buildings with electricity derived from community solar gardens.

The agreement, adopted Wednesday by the St. Paul City Council, allows the city to buy up to eight megawatts of electricity from the Minneapolis-based solar company, or about a fourth of the electrical energy that St. Paul needs each year to power its government offices, libraries, rec centers and fire stations. As a result, energy bills are projected to drop $165,000 next year.

“Anytime we can say we’re going to use 25 percent renewable energy for our energy load and save a bunch of money in the process seems like a really good day for the city of St. Paul,” said Council President Russ Stark.

Environmental Policy Director Anne Hunt said the energy will be purchased from solar photovoltaic systems — better known as solar “gardens” — located in Dakota and Washington counties, among other sites.

GreenMark co-founder and CEO Julie Jorgensen said the company’s solar gardens range from 15 acres to 40 acres, or one to five megawatts. Two sites in Washington County that will service St. Paul host nearly 8,000 and 10,000 solar panels, respectively. Related Articles Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87

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Technically, the electrons that flow to St. Paul’s government buildings will still come from Xcel Energy. As a result of state statutes passed in 2015, the Minnesota Department of Commerce has developed a monetary credit system, allowing cities and other buyers of solar garden power a rebate off their local energy bills for every kilowatt hour purchased from a solar provider.

Xcel Energy, which buys power from GreenMark, will remain St. Paul’s utility provider, but will credit its bills to the city based on the amount of solar energy the city purchases.

“The economics are such that the customers are going to save money on their electric bills,” said GreenMark co-founder Mark Andrew, in an interview. “St. Paul is going to save millions of dollars.”

Andrew said that GreenMark’s large subscribers range from cities to sports teams and individual corporate sites. The city of Minneapolis has a smaller contract with GreenMark, and in downtown St. Paul, the Xcel Energy Center/RiverCentre is a client.

GreenMark has indicated that it has at least four megawatts of solar electrical capacity available for the city from its existing gardens throughout the metro area, and may have up to eight megawatts as its subscriber base grows and new gardens come online.

As a result of the agreement, St. Paul is expected to save $165,000 in energy costs in 2018. If Xcel Energy increases its rates as it has in recent years, St. Paul will save $9 million over the course of the 25-year agreement.

Hunt called the agreement a first step, but she’s eager to see the city buy half its electrical energy from solar gardens in the near future. The agreement with GreenMark carries a 25-year term. Related Articles Neighborhood girl finds and returns chef Justin Sutherland’s stolen knife roll

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Hunt is working on a “Climate Action Plan” — a formal action plan designed to improve energy efficiency in buildings and homes, increase reliance on renewable energy and lower St. Paul’s “carbon footprint” to nil by the year 2050. She hopes to have a plan before the city council by the end of the year.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman signed the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement in 2006. That year, the mayor’s office declared that the city — from everyday residents to government buildings — would reduce its carbon emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020. Technically, that goal has already been achieved.

Based on a citywide inventory of greenhouse gases conducted in 2005, “between 2005-2015 there has been a 27 percent reduction in emissions,” Hunt said. “This is largely because Xcel (Energy) and District Energy moved to cleaner fuels and there was an eight percent reduction in consumption.”

The state’s efforts around solar energy have drawn supporters and critics. Saying it lacks sufficient oversight and has failed to yield desired results, Republican lawmakers have sought to dismantle a “Made in Minnesota” solar energy incentive program funded in large part by Xcel Energy ratepayers.

More information about the city’s Climate Action Plan is online at stpaul.gov/climateaction.