Niagara Cave reaches decade long milestone of harnessing solar energy
HARMONY, Minn. (KTTC) – Niagara Cave in Harmony is celebrating a decade of harnessing the power of the sun. In 2015, it became the first show cave in the world to offset its energy consumption with solar panels, according to owner Mark Bishop.
When visitors enter the cave, they can expect to be immersed into a world that is below the surface and is thousands of years old.
“There’s really some unique things that you can see down there that you can’t see on the surface,” Niagara Cave Manager Ryan Bishop said. “There’s lots of fossils, cave formations and underground waterfalls.”
Walking along the mile long roundtrip path, visitors will find science all around them with stalactites seeping from the ceiling to rock formations that change color from ultraviolet light.
“If you shine a black light on them, they’ll have a fluorescent effect; they’ll tend to turn a greenish color,” Ryan said. “If you hold it up really close it will actually be phosphorescent. It will actually hold onto that light energy for a couple of seconds, and it will release it as a glow once it’s removed.”
Inside the tunnels are another secret hiding in plain sight, which help save energy. LED lights help cut costs, but off-site the cave is tapping into solar energy with 120 solar panels.
“We were one of the first caves publicly in the world that switched over our incandescent to LED,” Ryan said. “There’s three sections of solar panels and each one is producing about 10,000 watts,” Mark said.
45,000 kilowatt hours per year are generated 15 to 20 minutes away on the owner’s land in Preston. The energy generated is distributed to a grid where the cave and its amenities can tap into throughout the entire year.
“Even in the winter months when it might be cloudy or the angle of sun is less, we are producing less energy,” Mark said. “But we are still heating the facility, the water and well pump and we are still using energy.”
Mark said the spark was there all along to do his part to help the environment, in addition to thinking about the longevity of his company.
“It’s just kind of our philosophy to do what’s right and protect the environment,” he said.
Another accolade the Bishops and Niagara Cave hold came in 2017 after being voted the second-best cave in the country by readers of USA Today. Each summer there are roughly 30,000 visitors that tour the cave, according to the Bishops.
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