Minnesota Solar For Schools - Hinckley-Finlayson

The Hinckley-Finlayson District is a rural school district, located in east-central MN, about 100 miles north of the twin cities metropolitan area. We have a diverse student population of nearly 1000 students k-12.

Our district pledge is to be the place where every student is known, valued and challenged to succeed. In order to accomplish this goal, the district has made it a priority to maintain a low student to teacher ratio, focus on differentiated instruction, promote extra curricular involvement, grow in our implementation of educational technology, advance our engineering, coding and robotics programs, and encourage high fine arts involvement; all while maintaining a healthy district fund balance.

Hinckley-Finlayson Public Schools

Rural schools play an important role in their communities, serving many functions beyond education. They are often the center of social, recreational and cultural life in their communities. They also face unique challenges that must be overcome, like isolation from workforce opportunities and limited funding for programs beyond core classes and minimal technical education programs.

For many rural Districts who are interested in on-site solar, low student numbers mean budgets are tight. And schools aren't eligible for the federal tax incentives and very few rural utilities offer rebates.

With the help of iDEAL Energies, Hinckley-Finlayson Public Schools were able to take advantage of the Federal Tax Credit to help pay for their arrays and make room in their budget for the things that really matter.

Combined with the standards-aligned, hands on solar education modules provided by iDEAL with every solar project, students navigage all the ways solar intersects with their lives and possible pathways for post-secondary study, using real-world research and real-time data.