WSB is partnering with Signal Energy, a construction and procurement company for renewable energy projects, to create a community solar garden on a retired farmstead in the city of Cokato, MN. The project required a range of survey services along with environmental and civil design services to ensure solar arrays were placed properly. Faced with some unique challenges, we continue to partner to create a renewable energy source on the project site.
We provided an environmental feasibility study for conditional use permit application, civil design including site grading and access roads and a hydrology study and analysis. Site grading is an important design step because solar arrays must be placed in a specific orientation and at a maximum slope. This was especially important because the project site was an abandoned farmstead that contained features that could cause unwanted and long-lasting problems that affect other resources. Buried debris from old building foundations was also found on the site, which had to be analyzed, quantified and then permitted for removal.
