Sunflower II
| Sunflower II Fact Sheet |
| Sunflower II Energized (May 24, 2017) |
| Dairyland Announces More Solar Projects (Nov. 3, 2016) |
| Sunflower II Ceremonial Ground Breaking (Aug. 2, 2016) |
Sunflower II was energized on May 24, 2017 - the 78th anniversary of the first account being energized on St. Croix Electric Cooperative lines. Sunflower II is the seventh of 15 utility-scale solar arrays brought online by Dairyland Power Cooperative (La Crosse, Wis.), in 2016 and 2017, totaling 20 MW of solar generation capacity. That’s enough to power more than 3,300 homes, with Sunflower II’s 2.34 MW generation capacity enough to power 390 homes.
In 2016, SCEC purchased 20 acres of land for Sunflower II from local farmer, David Cowles, Sr., in the Town of Warren along 140th St., south of 70th Ave. SCEC leases the land to SoCore Energy (Chicago), who was selected as the developer for the project by Dairyland. SoCore hired Faith Technologies (Menasha, Wis.) to be the general contractor. The power produced by Sunflower II is fed into existing infrastructure, powering the homes and businesses of SCEC members served by the Warren substation, which is located across the road from the solar array. More than 1,000 SCEC members, including high consumption members, such as County Materials, Pilot Flying J Travel Plaza, and U.S. Minerals, are provided electricity by the Warren Substation.
Dairyland has committed to purchasing 93 percent of Sunflower II’s output; SCEC secured a 25-year, fixed price, purchase power agreement with SoCore for 7 percent of the array’s generation (about 144 kW).
Sunflower II utilizes tracking technology to track the sun’s path across the sky. Additional array facts include:
- 9,360 panels
- 310 watts per panel; each panel is 3’ x 6’
- 65 Chint Power Systems (CPS) inverters (36 kW, each)
- 131 NEXTracker single-axis trackers
- 1,433 driven piles
- 20-acre site
- 16-acre pollinator meadow
DEVELOPER: SoCore Energy | Chicago www.SoCoreEnergy.com
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Faith Technologies | Menasha, Wis. www.FaithTechnologies.com
POWER PURCHASER: Dairyland Power Cooperative | La Crosse, Wis. www.DairylandPower.com
SERVICE TERRITORY: St. Croix Electric Cooperative | Hammond, Wis. www.scecnet.net
