Antinuclear

What if I told you the U.S. city blazing the local energy trail has a population of 2,800 and relies on sheep to cut the grass around its solar panels? It‘s time to turn our heads from the energy trailblazers in New York and California to the industrious and economically savvy Village of Minster, Ohio.

In 2015, this village (Ohio calls any town with a population below 5,000 a village) became the first community of its size in the nation to successfully operate its own solar and battery system.

Don Harrod is Minster’s village administrator, a big job that oversees every one of Minster’s far-reaching operations. “We are a full-service village. We supply water, wastewater, parks, streets, recreation, police, fire,” says Harrod. “We’re also a municipal-owned electric system.” Minster is one of 88 municipalities in Ohio that runs its own small electric utility – it’s what the industry calls a…