HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017 07-31 Solar panels to be removed from Maplewood Community Center MAPLEWOOD REVIEW
Solar panels to be removed from
Maplewood Community Center
Submitted by admin on Mon, 07/31/2017 - 10:26am
The solar panels will be removed from the roof of the Maplewood Community Center this week in preparation for
replacing the center’s roof. The panels will not be replaced after repairs are made. file photo
The Maplewood City Council agreed at its July 24 meeting to remove the solar panels from the
Maplewood Community Center roof, a project that needs to be completed before the building’s roof can
be replaced.
In its contract with the YMCA, which now operates MCC, the city agreed to replace the roof by the end of
2017. Money to remove the solar panels and replace the roof has already been budgeted and will come
from the MCC Building and Maintenance fund.
The city is paying about $13,000 for Novel Energy Solutions to remove the 216 panels and corresponding
equipment off the MCC roof, and work is expected to begin the first week of August, according to
Environmental and Economic Development Director DuWayne Konewko.
Per the contract between Maplewood and EA Solar, the company that installed the solar panels on the
roof in 2011, the city is on the hook for $8,856 to end the contract early.
“We essentially bought out the last 24 months or so of the contract so we could remove these solar
panels,” Konewko explained in a recent interview.
Konewko added that Maplewood will not be paying anyone to reinstall the panels on the MCC roof, but
the city is continuing to use solar energy through the ground-mounted panels in front of City Hall and
through participation in the Geronimo Community Solar Garden, which is expected to begin generating
energy early this fall.
Maplewood will keep and store 16 panels and four inverters from the MCC to be used as replacement
parts for the system of solar panels in front of City Hall, as Ten K Solar, the Bloomington-based company
that manufactured the solar panels used at both sites, recently declared bankruptcy, Konewko said.
Novel Energy Solutions will keep the remaining panels and inverters to be repurposed as replacement
parts at other sites that use the same solar technology around the Twin Cities.
Work to replace the MCC roof is slated to begin the first or second week of September. Konewko said the
total expected cost of the project is still being finalized.