Solar Installations Increase 35% in Decorah from 2020-2023

Posted: May 14, 2024 in City News

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From the City of Decorah 

Title: Solar Installations Increase 35% in Decorah from 2020 – 2023

Contact: Jim Martin-Schramm, Chair, Decorah Sustainability Commission, marschja@luther.edu


The amount of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy generating capacity in Decorah increased 35.3% from 2020-2023.  The number of projects increased 32.9% from a total of 234 projects in 2020 to 311 projects in 2023.

Decorah had 4,013.01 kW-AC of installed solar PV capacity on December 31, 2020.  Three years later Decorah had 5,430.73 kW-AC of solar PV installed capacity on December 31, 2023.

Decorah also has 1,600 kW of installed wind energy capacity (Luther’s wind turbine) but that amount did not increase from 2020-2023.

In total, the City of Decorah has 7,030.73 kW-AC of renewable energy generating capacity through the end of 2023.

Alliant Energy provided this information to the City of Decorah (52101 ZIP Code) at the request of the Decorah Sustainability Commission.  One of the action items in the Decorah Sustainability Plan is “to establish a 2020 baseline of installed renewable energy generating capacity per capita (kW/per capita) within the City of Decorah limits; update every three years.”

The most recent estimate of Decorah’s population by the U.S. Census Bureau is that the city had a population of 7,581 in April 2020.  The 7,030.73 kW of solar capacity divided by the city’s population produces an average of 0.93 kW (927.4) watts of installed renewable energy generating capacity per person.

Considering solar alone, the City of Decorah had 716.4 watts of installed solar PV per capita by the end of 2023.

By way of comparison, Honolulu, Hawai’i led the nation with 1,133.48 watts per person in 2021, according to Environment America’s Shining Cities 2022 report.  Decorah’s 716.4 watts of installed solar capacity in 2023 would rank second ahead of Las Vegas, Nevada, which had 689.9 watts per capita in 2021.

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