Notice how they installed the solar panels on the side of the roof? Winter snows dont cover them up and they can still provide energy to heat the airport building.
Chosen as a project because of its public use and higher profile, the solar thermal heat now part of the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport is hoped to be a model for renewable energy at work.
The project was made possible by Region 5 Development Commission, the Initiative Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL).
Based in Pine River, the nonprofit RREAL, manufactures solar thermal collectors and distributes them nationally.
A Wednesday ceremony marked the airport’s solar thermal project. Installed in February, the supplemental solar thermal space heating system is used to heat a large building that primarily stores the airport’s snow removal equipment. The building previously was dependent on propane as a heat source and had high heating costs.