A commitment to community and sustainability

Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub harvests the benefits from 68 solar panels

By LOREN GREEN

Solar panels are meant to blend in, to capture the sun’s energy from a rooftop or open space without interfering with day to day life. Yet, people notice them in a big way.

“We took a picture,” says Jamie Robinson, co-owner at Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub, where 68 solar modules were recently installed. “It was our biggest Twitter response ever.”

The panels do not cover just their newly installed pergola, but the entire rooftop at 2716 E. 38th St., and they have become a regular point of discussion between bartenders and customers, servers and diners. They’ve been so popular, he’s discussed them frequently, even before he’s seen the difference in his bill.

“We try to be as authentic as possible,” says Robinson. He means the business doesn’t take shortcuts, and they work with like-minded vendors. They brew their own beer, cure and smoke their meat on-site, and make all their recipes from scratch.

But their authenticity extends beyond the hands-on of the food preparation and into a deeper philosophy about community and sustainability. Their patio, a point of pride, is serviced by Giving Tree Gardens, who work with mostly organic products while winning awards for their work. Northbound also ties that approach to their focus as a bike-friendly business as well. Solar panels are a good match with that philosophy.

The solar panels, Robinson admits, weren’t originally his idea. His landlord, Forteva Development, came to him last year to launch owner Andy Root’s new business, Forteva Solar. Root installed the solar modules, manufactured in Canada and assembled in Minnesota, and he then sells the solar electricity to Northbound. Robinson refuses to take credit for Root’s clean energy initiative, but he bears the rewards. “It dumps right into our meter,” he explains, and the 22 kW system creates enough power to knock an estimated 20% off their electric bill. That percentage may sound small, but brewing is an energy intensive process, and one year of the sun at Northbound will generate enough electricity to power 3.3 homes (or 254 light bulbs) for a full year. The brewpub is a perfect fit because they will use all of the energy and it will not need to be resold back to Xcel Energy, who controls the grid.

While it fits Northbound’s ethics, it also inspired the pergola addition to the patio, something in their original plans that had not yet come to fruition. “I strive to be the best patio in south Minneapolis,” Robinson says, and improvements to the space are a constant goal of maintaining relevance and exhibiting ownership’s pride in their business. With 80 seats inside the restaurant and another 56 at picnic tables outside, it’s an important element and a constantly changing environment by the season.

With hop vines that grow into a living wall in the summertime and a rotation of tropical plants that are rotated during the year, outdoor seating is important to Robinson. “It’s Minnesota. You have, what, 60 days of patio weather?” he asks. Making it as comfortable and unique as possible is a company goal. The pergola and solar panels not only create conversation, but they also provide shade.

“I built the pergola not only to add more capacity for panels,” Root says. “But so people could see it.” North-bound is the showcase Forteva Solar, with more panels being installed at Punk Rawk Labs on 35th St. and up to 10 more projects in development for 2016. Forteva Solar will install new fixtures on small commercial properties in the city, buildings both owned by himself and by other like-minded landlords. Solar panels are notably expensive but, notes Root, between federal tax breaks and in-state subsidies, that cost can be significantly reduced to increase profitability.

Root is ambitious in adding new solar power sources in the city, but he’s interested in clean energy across the board. “I’d love to put some in kind of wind generator, but they don’t have enough room,” he says of Northbound. He’s also petitioning the city to install an EV (electric vehicle) charging station that connects to the solar panels, and he and Northbound are working together to install additional bicycle racks outside their brewpub.

“It fits what I’m doing,” says Root of his Forteva Solar. More importantly, “it fits what the neighborhood wants,” he adds.

From Robinson’s perspective, the decision was easy. “I feel better using 20% solar,” he says. “I’m looking forward to how people react to the solar panels and if they’re coming here because they want to support a place that has solar panels or if they just like the pergola or the shade.”