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City of Arden Hills – 2040 Comprehensive Plan <br /> <br /> <br />Approved: January 14, 2019 <br />10-16 <br /> <br />10.5.6 Solar Resource Development and Protection <br />As part of further implementing a strategy of promoting a more environmentally <br />sustainable community, the City will increase energy conservation where possible and <br />the promote the development of distributed solar energy. In Arden Hills, the latter will <br />largely be accomplished through the preservation of access to solar resource <br />throughout the community. City has set the following goals that promote the adaptability <br />of city resources and the ability for residents and developers to implement solar <br />technology: <br /> <br />a) Encourage residential solar development that maintains community <br />character. <br />b) Increase energy resilience of critical facilities such as police, fire, and <br />emergency and hazard response centers. <br />c) Fairly balance the development rights of land owners with solar resource <br />with the community character rights of adjacent landowners. <br />d) Protect access to solar resources in new developments and subdivisions, <br />enabling individual land owners to choose to self-generate energy. <br /> <br />To accomplish this strategy, the City shall evaluate the zoning ordinance and <br />other regulations for where amendments can be made to implement the above <br />solar goals. <br /> <br />Solar Resource <br /> <br />Much like natural gas and oil, solar energy is a resource that can be quantified <br />and measured geographically. In 2016 the University of Minnesota published a <br />high-resolution map measuring solar insolation potential for the entire state of <br />Minnesota. Using this data, the amount of solar energy available to Arden Hills <br />has been calculated (see Gross Solar Potential figure 10.4).