Staff photo by Fritz Busch A Community Solar Garden owned by Springfield Public Utilities was damaged last week. Ten panels were installed west of County Road 5 by a power station just two days before five panels were smashed by a blunt object.

SPRINGFIELD — Just two days after it was installed, but not operational, five solar panels in a Community Solar Garden (CSG) were smashed by what appeared to be a blunt object last week.

Springfield Public Utilities Superintendent Scott Johnson said the CSG project was not hooked up yet and an installation invoice was not yet received when half of the 10 panel (4 kW) project was damaged.

Johnson said a city survey showed interest in the project, which right now would produce a small percentage of the city’s power needs. The Springfield Public Utility Commission plans to run power from the solar panels to a nearby power substation and monitor the amount of power generated on the city website.

“If it takes off, we’ll add more solar panels. We have lots to property to expand to,” Johnson said. “It seems to be popular with some people because it’s renewable, even though it costs a little more.”

In addition, Johnson said he will discuss methods to safeguard the CSG with the Springfield Public Utilities commission.

A CSG is an array of solar panels that power users can subscribe to instead of putting their own roof panels on. Power generated by the CSG goes into the Xcel Energy grid and individual power portions are calculated. Subscriptions are open to anyone with an Xcel Energy account including homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profit organizations.

For more information, visit http://mncommunitysolar.com/how-it-works.