solar panel to an iPod, which plays They Might
Be Giants’ “Why Does the Sun Shine?”
Most K- 12 field trips have been paid for
through an Xcel Energy Energy Educators grant,
which funds training for energy educators and
their classroom projects, Gainey said. Westwood
has contributed to the hands-on education effort
as well, committing four annual trainings for St.
John’s environmental education staff.
Abbot John Klassen, left, blesses the ground at the
solar farm’s groundbreaking in September 2009.
At right is Br. Stephen Warzecha.
tive, should the state be putting more incentive
money behind solar? How does it compete with
wind? Do we need different land-use ordinances
to facilitate the development of solar PV?”
giving students hands-On experience The solar farm has also proven to be a useful tool for university faculty, particularly in classes in the environmental sciences and economics. “We saw that our seniors didn’t understand
the basics of energy,” said Dr. Derek Larson,
chair of St. John’s environmental studies department. To remedy this, Larson’s department created a class focused on data analysis and statistics
relevant to environmental and energy issues. The
solar farm plays a central role.
st. JOhN’s abbey
Visiting the solar farm, students will also
see prairie grasses and some flowers, all native
species, growing between the rows of Siliken
panels ( silikenusa.com). The St. John’s Arbo-
retum staff selected specifically for species that
don’t get very tall. In case there’s a wet spring or
unexpected growth, they’re weighing a backup
plan. “We could actually run sheep or goats in
here to keep the vegetation length under con-
trol,” said Tom Kroll, the arboretum director.
“We put woven wire fence in with that in mind.
The only problem I can think of would be when
the wires come down in the morning [when
the trackers reset], you wouldn’t want anything
nibbling on it.”
Back in the classroom, Larson thinks that the
solar farm will help to facilitate more in-depth
conversation about renewable energy. “It’s the
future, right?” he said. “We can talk about how
it all works, and the basic physics of solar PV.
But we can also talk about the economics of it,
and from a very practical basis, ask the questions
that need to be answered: From a policy perspec-
PARTNERS:
MODULES:
“For example, because this is a tracking
system, and most residential systems are fixed,
we can compare efficiencies,” Larson said. “On
paper, the tracking system is 10 to 15 percent
more efficient, so we can pull up the data [online]
and see if it’s producing at that level.”
INVERTER:
TRACKING:
An online monitoring website set up by Westwood supports data analysis, Larson said. (See
live.deckmonitoring.com/?id=saint_johns_
solar_farm, or http://bit.ly/9sCr1F.) With it,
students can calculate the solar farm’s projected
annual performance at its rated efficiency ( 13. 7
percent), on the 45th parallel, with Minnesota’s
weather. Then, with a few clicks of a mouse, they
can compare it with actual performance. Being
a 15-minute walk from the solar farm helps students put their findings into perspective, Larson
said. “You can start to show [students] how this
actually scales in a meaningful way,” he said.
“They can go out and look at it and touch it and
see: If we have to use this much cornfield to
provide 4 percent [equivalent of our electric-ity], how much would we have to plow under to
provide 50 percent?”
PROJECTED OUTPUT:
st. John’s abbey
solar farm HIGHLIGHTS
modeling sustainability
In planning for its future, the abbey is looking to diversify its energy portfolio with renewables. If Leuthner, the abbey’s treasurer, has his
way, a 4-megawatt wind turbine will soon loom
over lower campus, directly adjacent to the solar
farm. Together, he has dubbed the solar farm
and planned turbine the St. John’s Abbey Energy
Farm. Currently in the financial analysis stage,
the turbine would satisfy more than a third of
the campus’s overall electricity demand on an
annual basis. The university is also considering
solar thermal and ground-source heating systems
for several new buildings, including a new rec
center, Larson said. If the plans materialize, St.
John’s will be on track to achieve its ACUPCC
climate action commitment of carbon neutrality
by 2035. It would be an impressive start just five
years into the commitment.
For the abbey, progress on the renewable
energy front has also brought the monastic
community’s lifestyle truer to the word of Saint
Benedict. In 2006, the monks of St. John’s cel-
ebrated 150 years of Benedictine tradition in
the place they once called Schoenthal, or the
“beautiful valley.” In the foreword to a book the
abbey published commemorating the occasion,
“St. John’s at 150,” Abbot Klassen contem-
plated the future of his community. “We must
constantly renew our commitment to conser-
vation,” Klassen wrote. “We will contribute to
the exploration of alternative energy sources in
the context of sensitivity to the planet and our
immediate environment.”
Both the St. John’s Abbey and the univer-
sity have resolved that achieving true sustain-
ability will require a return to their founding
values. In turning back to renewable resources
for their energy needs, they’re also providing
students with lessons about the value of, and
steps necessary to achieve, broad renewable
energy deployment. ST
