The Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport and Brainerd Public Utilities have paired up to create a solar field to increase BPU’s renewable energy sources.

Airports have become a recent destination for solar fields and can have large, unused areas of land. BPU plans to harvest power off of the land, and the airport will end up with a land lease, where they will get revenue back into the airport system to help offset power costs. The cost of energy from the facility will be significantly less than what BPU is purchasing right now, and will in turn bringing down energy bills.

BPU is hopeful construction will begin in the fall and that it will be completed by next summer.

By — Chris Burns