“Flip the Switch” event celebrates solar farms

Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative teamed up today with Greenbush – The Southeast Kansas Education Service Center and solar technology provider Today’s Power, Inc. for a “Flip the Switch” event to celebrate the completion of two new solar farms.

The event was held at the Greenbush solar farm.

Heartland will now have two solar farms: a one-Megawatt array next to Greenbush, and another one-Megawatt array located between Erie and Chanute along 160th Road.

The Greenbush site will be incorporated into educational programs at the William L. Abernathy Science Education Center at Greenbush, giving students hands-on opportunities to learn about solar energy and energy distribution. 

Heartland’s two solar farms represent the first completed components of a statewide project involving 11 other electric cooperatives. Once they are completed within the next couple of years, 80,000 homes will be powered by the 20 Megawatts of capacity the farms will produce.