Solar panels have been installed at 17 new boarding locations, supplying energy to keep waiting shelters lit at night.
The solar-powered shelters are located at sites along Xerxes Avenue in Brooklyn Center, on Fremont, Lyndale, Plymouth and West Broadway avenues in North Minneapolis and at several locations in Brooklyn Park.
With the latest wave of installations, there are now more than 30 Metro Transit shelters supplied by solar power. In 2010 and 2012, solar panels were installed along Franklin Avenue and at sites in Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park and North Minneapolis.
The pole-mounted solar panels feed a rechargeable battery pack that can provide up to 30 hours of energy for motion-sensing lights. Metro Transit is currently exploring options for mounting solar panels directly on shelter rooftops.
Solar panels are used at sites where the cost of powering the site through a utility connection is cost-prohibitive.
Where possible, lighting will be included at all shelters installed through the Better Bus Stop Program. By the end of 2015, shelters will have been installed at 51 locations where none had previously existed. Many of these sites will include light.
The solar-powered shelters are a small part of a broader effort to cut the amount of purchased energy used at Metro Transit facilities in half by 2020.
Large solar arrays are in place at the 610 & Noble Parkway Park & Ride in Brooklyn Park and at the Rail Support Facility in Minneapolis. In 2016, rooftop solar arrays will be installed at bus garages in Minneapolis, Bloomington and St. Paul, as well as a light-rail maintenance facility on the METRO Blue Line and a bus maintenance building in St. Paul.
> Better Bus Stops
Metro Transit takes leap forward on solar energy