Enrolling Schools Now!

2023 Solar for Schools

iDEAL Energies partners with Minnesota School Districts to navigate all available incentives and combine them into the best possible outcome for your project.
 
District Total Funding
Xcel Energy: K-12 Districts
$800K
$8M
/District
Total
Grant Fund Availability
$8M available
up to $800,000 per District
40% for low-income districts
1 MW AC max size
Other Utilities: K-12 Districts
>$30K
$8M
/Project
Total
Grant Fund Availability
Grant between $30-114K
funding based on financial need
2 projects per District per Round
40kW AC max size
State Colleges & Universities
$124K
$2.5M
up to/Project
Total
Grant Fund Availability
$2.5M available
1MW AC in Xcel Territory
40kW AC other utilities
Grants distributed in two rounds

All grants require:

On or near District Property
Real-Time Monitoring
Solar Curriculum
One Program. Any Incentive.

iDEAL's Solar Program

For all of our school customers, we provide real-time monitoring and solar curriculum that is standards-aligned and ready to incorporate into your classroom.
On-Site Solar

On-Site Solar

This is our specialty!  As a business, we only install on-site solar because we believe that it's the best, most direct way to support our customers energy needs. Whether on the roof or on the ground, on-site solar creates energy that can be used immediately by your building and cuts out the middle men.

If you need more than your array can produce, your building will draw it from the grid as usual.

If you produce more than you need, simply sell it back to the Utility.

Solar at its simplest.

Real-Time Monitoring

Real-Time Monitoring

State-of-the-art real-time monitoring is included with every solar array we install for swift solar operations and maintenance.  This web-based platform provides performance, environmental benefits & data for use in the classroom.

Our inter-disciplinary solar curricula for 5th grade and high school include lessons built around analyzing the actual data from your District,  while also considering weather conditions and environmental benefits.

 

 

Application Process

Let us do the heavy lifting.

Submit Readiness Application

iDEAL will gather the necessary information from your District to prepare a readiness application for approval & signature, and will submit to the Department of Commerce.

System Engineering

iDEAL will perform electrical & structural engineering on each school to determine where to place the array & how to best connect it to your building.

Submit Full Application

After engineering documents have been finalized,  iDEAL will apply to the Department of Commerce to lock in the grant funds for your school(s).

Contract Negotiation

iDEAL will negotiate agreements with the District, based on the same solar contract we've used for 52 other school Districts.

Solar Array Construction & Startup

Once our engineering application is approved & all equipment has been procured, iDEAL will construct & energize your system, after thorough quality checks by all permitting authorities.