Camp Ripley, the Minnesota National Guard training center near Little Falls, saw major damage to several buildings Wednesday night from what the Weather Service now confirms was a tornado.
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The last solar panels were scheduled to be installed today, Thursday September 8.
Construction of the solar array began in May at the National Guard’s 53,000-acre regional training facility, which also sustained damage in the storm.
The damage was still being assessed, so a dollar figure was not yet available, Housey said.
The Guard said in a statement there was major damage to several buildings when the storm arrived after 10 p.m.
A NWS warning coordination meteorologist was surveying the area’s damage pattern to determine whether it was hit by straight-line winds or a tornado. With 25 percent of the 97 rows of solar panels now twisted and shattered to varying degrees, the ribbon-cutting will have to wait till next spring. “We can fix buildings and replace damaged equipment, but our people are irreplaceable”.
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The Minnesota National Guard reports no one was injured in the storms. “This solar power plant is a key component of Minnesota Power’s EnergyForward strategy to add renewable energy to our energy mix while transforming the nation’s energy landscape working in partnership with Camp Ripley, Little Falls and Morrison County”. The solar panels were crushed by a large storage container and other debris blown into the array by high winds, the release said.
