Northern Lights Solar Project
Completed solar array at Northern Lights
Update February 2025: The Northern Lights solar project was commissioned on December 6, 2024, and is producing electricity. Thank you to all that have donated to this project. This is the first large installation in our community that features bifacial solar panels as well as an energy meter that will track solar generation and building load. Bifacial panels receive light from the underside as well as the top, generating electricity from both sides which increases efficiency. This is especially useful to capture reflected light off the snow in our long winters. Below is an example of recorded energy from February 4, 2025.
This screenshot of the eGauge energy meter shows solar production in green and building electric usage in red on February 4, 2025 - a cold and clear day in Northern Wisconsin. Where the green shaded area is higher than the red, solar generated electricity exceeds the building load and is being exported to the grid. Northern Lights will get full credit for the surplus electricity on their electric bill.
Older Posts: August 20, 2023. After 6 months of supply chain disruptions, the Northern Lights Solar Project is back on track. The community has donated $26,400 to this project and we look forward to system commissioning and the beginning of clean energy production.
Final solar panels being installed, August 2023.
Solar panels being delivered just before Thanksgiving, 2022.
Posts set in November 2023.
Update: Sept 4 2022. $24,049 has been raised from the community! This includes:
$1000 from Essentia Health (NEW SPONSOR!)
$2500 from Memorial Medical Center
$6765 from the GoFundMe site
$8784 from checks sent directly to CBR or NLS
$5000 from the CBR match
No reason to stop now. Northern Lights still has $63,500 of upfront expenses which could be reduced so those funds could be better used for patient care. Whether you can donate $20 or become a corporate sponsor, all donations are appreciated. Please DONATE NOW. A summary of the project can be found here.
Update: August 18, 2022. We are happy to welcome Memorial Medical Center as a sponsor of the Northern Lights Solar Project. They have donated $2500 toward the project. "A solar energy installation for this facility would allow it to dramatically lower annual utility bills. The money saved would then be available to fund patient care" Clair Morud, MD
Update: As of August 11, 2022, $5,619 has been donated from the community, matched by $5,000 from CBR, totaling $10,619. This will purchase nearly 32 solar panels of the 68 needed to complete the project. Please spread the word and help out if you can!
Northern Lights Services is a nonprofit serving our senior community with assisted living and skilled nursing care. They have struggled over the last decades to meet financial obligations because of underfunding from Federal and state sources. This solar project would benefit the seniors they serve by reducing NLS' electric bills by $14K per year, allowing those funds to be reallocated to better serve their clients. The project demonstrates advanced high-efficiency ground-mounted bifacial solar panels which increases solar generation from reflected light, especially effective in the snow belt. CBR will be donating $5K of matching funds, which when combined with community funds will purchase 30 of the 68 panels needed.
The project will be a 120kW dc ground-mounted solar installation. One half of the solar panels have been donated by a Solar for Good grant. Nokomis Energy, a solar developer based in Minneapolis has also donated panels. Together, the two grants cover about 2/3rds of the solar panels that will be needed for the project. The last 1/3, we hope to fundraise through the community via a GoFundMe Me site and matching donations from CBR and other corporate sponsors. Donations can also be made by sending checks directly to CBR or NLS. All donations are tax deductible. CBR's mailing address is: 33430 Whiting Rd. Bayfield, WI 54814.
The project was approved by the NLS board on August 3, 2022, after receiving contractor bids. Construction is slated to begin in September with installation complete in the summer of 2023.
$1000 from Essentia Health (NEW SPONSOR!)
$2500 from Memorial Medical Center
$6765 from the GoFundMe site
$8784 from checks sent directly to CBR or NLS
$5000 from the CBR match
No reason to stop now. Northern Lights still has $63,500 of upfront expenses which could be reduced so those funds could be better used for patient care. Whether you can donate $20 or become a corporate sponsor, all donations are appreciated. Please DONATE NOW. A summary of the project can be found here.
Update: August 18, 2022. We are happy to welcome Memorial Medical Center as a sponsor of the Northern Lights Solar Project. They have donated $2500 toward the project. "A solar energy installation for this facility would allow it to dramatically lower annual utility bills. The money saved would then be available to fund patient care" Clair Morud, MD
Update: As of August 11, 2022, $5,619 has been donated from the community, matched by $5,000 from CBR, totaling $10,619. This will purchase nearly 32 solar panels of the 68 needed to complete the project. Please spread the word and help out if you can!
Northern Lights Services is a nonprofit serving our senior community with assisted living and skilled nursing care. They have struggled over the last decades to meet financial obligations because of underfunding from Federal and state sources. This solar project would benefit the seniors they serve by reducing NLS' electric bills by $14K per year, allowing those funds to be reallocated to better serve their clients. The project demonstrates advanced high-efficiency ground-mounted bifacial solar panels which increases solar generation from reflected light, especially effective in the snow belt. CBR will be donating $5K of matching funds, which when combined with community funds will purchase 30 of the 68 panels needed.
The project will be a 120kW dc ground-mounted solar installation. One half of the solar panels have been donated by a Solar for Good grant. Nokomis Energy, a solar developer based in Minneapolis has also donated panels. Together, the two grants cover about 2/3rds of the solar panels that will be needed for the project. The last 1/3, we hope to fundraise through the community via a GoFundMe Me site and matching donations from CBR and other corporate sponsors. Donations can also be made by sending checks directly to CBR or NLS. All donations are tax deductible. CBR's mailing address is: 33430 Whiting Rd. Bayfield, WI 54814.
The project was approved by the NLS board on August 3, 2022, after receiving contractor bids. Construction is slated to begin in September with installation complete in the summer of 2023.